Conversations with the Herd: Paxton Schultz

By: Brian Frank

Paxton Schultz grew up a big fan of the father of the biggest star in his current organization.

“I grew up an Angels fan and my favorite player was Vladimir Guerrero,” Schultz said in a recent interview with The Herd Chronicles. “I wore 27 growing up, all through high school. So, it's been cool to see Vlad Jr. and be around him and everything. It's a cool, full circle moment for me.”

The 27-year-old right-hander adopted the Angels as his favorite team at a young age.  

“Utah doesn't have a team,” Schultz explained. “My dad was an Angels fan. That's kind of close to us – west coast there. We'd always have tournaments in California, so we'd always go to Angels games, Dodgers games. But, yeah, I grew up an Angels fan, so that's where it started.”

Schultz has pitched in 61-career games with the Herd. Photo Credit: Brian Frank, The Herd Chronicles

Schultz grew up in Orem, Utah, where he starred for Orem High School. He was first-team All-State his junior and senior seasons. His senior year, he was Region 7 MVP, after going 11-1 with a 2.90 ERA and 105 strikeouts, while hitting .426 with 11 doubles and 31 RBIs. He led Orem to a Region 7 championship and a runner-up finish in the state championship.

“Looking back, I'm fortunate to still be playing now, but those are probably some of the most fun (times) I've had playing the game of baseball,” Schultz said. “Our team from 10 years old growing up, we went all through high school together, really close friends, and that was a lot of fun. We ended up going to the state championship game. Just such good memories and moments with those guys. It was awesome.”

After graduating, Schultz attended Utah Valley University, located in his hometown, to pitch for the Utah Valley Wolverines.

“I’m from Orem, that's right there, same city where I'm born and raised,” he said. “I was close to home, I knew the coaching staff, and I felt like I had a really good opportunity early on to get playing time, and that all went into the decision to go there.”

Schultz didn’t take long to get his first taste of college baseball – he pitched in Utah Valley’s season opener during his freshman season.

“It was at Wichita State and I went three innings, no hits,” he remembered. “I think I had four or five strikeouts, something like that. One of the hitters I struck out was (current Philadelphia Phillies third baseman) Alec Bohm. It was a cool moment. He was a big-time prospect over there at Wichita State, and that was a cool moment to get my feet wet in college baseball.”

Schultz wasn’t just a star on the field. He also excelled in the classroom, making the All-WAC academic team in all three of his college seasons and graduating Magna Cum Laude.

“Early on, my parents really pushed that (academics),” he said. “As long as I can play this game, I'm going to continue to play it, but there's going to be opportunities later on when this game won't always be here. So, I always took academics seriously and it opened up a lot of doors. You know, academic scholarships, all of that really helped me in college and getting money and stuff like that. So, it was really important. Early on, my parents pushed it, and I really always took that serious.”

In his junior season, Schultz pitched in a big game at South Carolina that helped put him on the radar of many scouts.

“I remember always going there as an underdog school, playing an SEC team,” he said. “I looked at it as an opportunity to get exposure. I think I ended up going seven innings, 11 strikeouts, and put my name on the map. I think that really got the snowball going of scouts and teams interested in me, and I just got on the board from there.”

Schultz set a single-season school strikeout record his junior year, fanning 99 batters, while leading the team with a 4.08 ERA. After the season, he was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 14th round of the 2019 Major League Baseball June Amateur Draft. Being drafted was the second life-changing event that happened to him that week.

“I got engaged the day before,” he remembered, “and then the next day, I was helping out at a little kids clinic at Utah Valley, and my phone rang while I was there. It was the scout that drafted me letting me know (he’d been drafted). It was such a cool experience. I had all the little kids coming up asking for my autograph. So, it was very, very cool.”

Schultz led the 2024 Bisons in strikeouts and innings pitched. Photo credit: Brian Frank, The Herd Chronicles

His first assignment with the Brewers came with the Rocky Mountain Vibes of the Pioneer League. His first series with the Vibes was against the Orem Owlz in his hometown of Orem, Utah.

“It was on my college field,” he smiled. “The Orem Owls, the rookie ball affiliate the Angels at the time, shared the field there. My first pro-ball experience was back at my home college stadium.”

“Then there's a team up in Ogden, Utah, probably an hour or 45 (minutes) from there, that we visited often. So, our first season of pro-ball, I was going back home a lot. It was very cool to have family, friends, all of them come watch and visit too.”

In 23 1/3 innings with the Vibes, Schultz had a 3.86 ERA. Unfortunately, the next minor-league season was cancelled due to the pandemic. However, Schultz was able to keep pitching. He traveled overseas to play for the Brisbane Bandits of the Australian League, where he posted a 3.29 ERA in 13 2/3 innings.

“It was all (set up) through the Brewers,” he explained. “They have good connections with the team over there. Brisbane was awesome. I remember it was kind of hard because I was going over the holidays. I think I missed Thanksgiving, missed Christmas. But like I said, with missing the season, it was a great opportunity to get back into baseball mode and just kind of hit the ground running that next spring training.”

“With all the COVID going on right when we got there, we had to do a two-week quarantine in the hotel room,” he continued. “So, I couldn't leave the hotel room for two weeks. We had to get creative with putting the mattress on the wall and throwing weighted balls and stuff into the mattress, and doing all the activity we could. But after that, since they were so strict on who came into the country, it was a night and day difference from how quarantine and stuff was here – like COVID was nonexistent over there. Everything was open, no masks. It was great. So, yeah, I was able to go to all the beaches, the Australia zoo, see the capital, all of that. It was a great experience traveling around Australia.”

Just prior to the 2021 season, Schultz was dealt to the Blue Jays organization as the player to be named later in the trade that sent outfielder Derek Fisher to Milwaukee.

“It was a crazy experience,” Schultz said of being traded. “I left spring training that day and I flew with the with the team. Right when I landed, I got a call from our farm director telling me I'd been traded and to just go to the hotel and someone with the Blue Jays will be in contact with me. Then I flew to Dunedin, threw in front of all the coaches, and then flew across country to be with the High-A Vancouver team. So, there was a lot going on in a short amount of time, but it was really cool, and I'm glad it all turned out the way it has so far.”

Even though Schultz was assigned to play for Vancouver, he never actually pitched in Vancouver. The U.S.-Canada border was still closed during the 2021 season because of the ongoing pandemic. So, just as the Blue Jays made Buffalo’s Sahlen Field their temporary home, the Canadians moved their games to Tonkin Field in in Hillsboro, Oregon, for the season.

“I'm sad I missed out on (playing in Vancouver), because I've heard everything is just (awesome) from the fans,” he said. “They get sellout crowds. We didn't get very many fans (in Hillsboro). The stadium was pretty much empty for our home games. And then when we were the home team playing against Hillsboro, everyone was cheering for them. So, it was definitely a weird experience, but it was great. The Diamondbacks affiliate there was great and we were able to make it all work. So, it was good. I liked the area, so no complaints.”

In 2022, Schultz spent the entire season with the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats. He pitched in 25 games, making 20 starts, had a 4.04 ERA in 104 2/3 innings pitched, and struck out 99 batters.

“I think that was a big point in my career, finally getting the call to Double-A,” he said. “I've heard a lot of things, how the step up in the competition was. Just being able to have some success there and realize, okay, I can compete at this level and above, it just really felt like it gave me a lot of confidence.”

In 2023, he returned to New Hampshire to begin the season. In 10 starts with the ’23 Fisher Cats, he had a 3.30 ERA, striking out 54 batters in 46 1/3 innings. He was promoted to Buffalo in early June.

“That was definitely a cool moment, getting the call to Triple-A,” he said. “I had a lot of confidence coming in, but ran into some trouble. I wasn't throwing the ball particularly well. I ran into that elbow injury and ended my season a little short. But that really allowed me to reflect and honestly just look at myself in the mirror. I knew I needed to get better. I worked on things from the physical aspect to the mental aspect. I think going to the next year, it kind of showed that I was healthy and I had a pretty good year the following season.”

Walking in from the Sahlen Field bullpen with catcher Danny Jansen. Photo Credit: Brian Frank, The Herd Chronicles

A healthy Schultz led the Bisons in both strikeouts and innings pitched in 2024, fanning 112 batters in 92 innings pitched. He won the Bisons’ Michael Dillon Comeback Player of the Year award for rebounding from the elbow injury that ended his previous season.

“One of the things I really dove into was the mental aspect,” Schultz said of his 2024 success. “I know I was putting in the good work and everything, but I just feel like it wasn't clicking out there. So, I read a book called Inner Excellence (by Jim Murphy), and it really helped me put things in perspective. One of the main things I summed up from that was, just having faith that the work I'm putting in is good and that I am ready for the moment. Whether the result is good or bad, I'm ready. I can't dwell too much on the bad, and I can't ride the highs too high. So, just staying kind of even keeled throughout and being consistent with my work. That's what I need to focus on, rather than the result. That helped my mentality and everything just click for me, and I feel like it showed.”

In his first two seasons with the Herd, Schultz pitched in 60 games, making 42 trips out of the Bisons’ bullpen, as well as 18 starts. He’s moved between a starting and relieving role seamlessly, a transition many pitchers struggle with.

“It definitely helps a lot having that background as a starter,” he explained. “So, being in a bulk role in the bullpen, being able to go anywhere from one to four innings if we need it, spot start here and there, it's like nothing new. I feel like I just preach big on routines and being able to make sure I'm prepared for whatever the role is. I feel like I'm really good at hitting all my routine things I need to be prepared. So, whatever they ask of me, I'll be ready to do it.”

Schultz uses four pitches to perplex hitters – a fastball, cutter, slider, and changeup. Many pitchers find a changeup a tough pitch to master. But Schultz has made his into an effective out pitch.

“I love my fastball,” he said. “I usually try to stay at the top of the strike zone with that. It has good ride, good life with it. Cutter off of that, trying to stay up and in to lefties, up and away to righties with that for the most part. The biggest out pitch, I'd say, is my changeup. I had a lot of swing and miss on that last year, a lot of punchouts. So, if I can get ahead in the count with the other three and then really just work on that late diving action with the changeup, I think I can have a lot of success with those.”

“The changeup is a tough pitch,” he continued. “It's definitely a big feel pitch. You’ve got to have that trust and command in it. But one of the biggest things is just taking advantage of catch play. When I get stretched out to 90 feet, I work on the changeup out there, so the movement’s amplified and I can work on getting everything consistent. So, on the mound, I just think about throwing it like the fastball and the movement is consistent there as well.”

Schultz is looking forward to another season in Buffalo and believes this Bisons team is capable of big things.

“I think there's a lot to be excited for,” he said. “I think the lineup's pretty solid through and through. And then we have a lot of guys returning that had success on the staff last year. We've added some veteran presence as well. So, I think it's going to be an exciting year for the fans to come out and cheer us on.”