James Paxton Becomes 2nd Yankee Ever with 12+ Strikeouts in Consecutive Starts

The New York Yankees are dealing with injuries to a number of key stars, but they can at least count on James Paxton to deliver.

The left-hander went six shutout innings Sunday against the Kansas City Royals and struck out 12 batters. MLB Stats provided some perspective on his performance:

The Yankees could build a formidable squad just out of the players they have on the injured list at the moment, especially after they announced Sunday that Aaron Judge is on the 10-day IL with a left oblique strain. 

In addition to Judge, Gary Sanchez, Troy Tulowitzki, Didi Gregorius, Giancarlo Stanton, Miguel Andujar, Aaron Hicks, Luis Severino and Dellin Betances are all unavailable.

As a result, New York's lineup is almost unrecognizable.

The injury to Severino, in particular, makes the offseason acquisition of Paxton even more important. With Severino out, the Yankees still have another pitcher who can anchor the starting rotation.

Through his first four stars, Paxton was delivering on expectations. He had 31 strikeouts and a 3.14 FIP in 23 innings, per Baseball Reference.

Of course, the fear with Paxton is whether he can make it through a full season without getting hurt. He has never thrown more than 160.1 innings in the majors in any of his first six years, and only twice has he made more than 20 starts.

As long as he's healthy, Paxton should continue to pitch like an ace in the Big Apple.