James Paxton wasn't supposed to be with the Yankees on Opening Day back in March due to his back surgery. But that has changed with Paxton fully recovered, and he showed it on Sunday during a sim game at Yankee Stadium.

Paxton loved feeling dirt instead of turf under his cleats on the mound, as he threw to his teammates in the batter's box. All went well in his first session, and it was a great foundation to start with as he moves forward in summer camp.

"Felt good to get back on a dirt mound," he said during a Zoom call. "I’ve been throwing on a turf mound with running shoes for the last little while. Getting back on the dirt with the guys and facing some of our guys felt great.”

Manager Aaron Boone added: "I thought he was really good. The results were good. I thought he spun the ball really well for being his first time out. He looked fairly sharp. Clearly a stepping stone for him to get back out there and get some competition against hitters.”

In regards to that spin, Paxton has been working on some changes to his repertoire recently instead of just rehabbing. Getting a higher spin rate on his fastball with a different grip was among those changes, and he believes it worked today. Hitters like Miguel Andujar were seen swinging and missing at his fastball that had some extra tail and was definitely noticeable.

“I think today — they’re still looking at the numbers after that. I think they’re going to look at them tonight and meet with me about it tomorrow,” he said. “But the initial kinda look I think [spin rate] was up a little bit. Not a ton but it was up a little bit, so something that we can continue to watch over the next few weeks.”

Paxton's target date to return to the team on normal circumstances was the end of May/early June, so that turned out to be the right timeline. Boone said “the progression for him has gone about as well as anyone could’ve hoped.”

Still, Paxton wants to make sure he stays on the mound, so a new routine to warm up has been put together for him to ensure he’s all stretched out and good to go.

“I felt like a little bit of a new routine, new stretches and stuff just to make sure everything’s warm and ready to go,” he said. “A couple of different exercises activation-wise to make sure that core is activated and fired up but everything else was normal.”

During his session, Paxton propped up an L screen after what happened with Masahiro Tanaka on Saturday. Boone revealed that Tanaka had a mild concussion after getting hit in the head by a line drive.

Paxton looked sharped, as Boone said, and he enjoys pitching to these hitters who are some of the best in the game.

“I think we’re pretty lucky. We got some really good hitters and facing those guys is tough. They know our stuff, so I think that will be even more challenging.”

Paxton figures to be a very vital piece to this Yankees team that has World Series aspirations. Behind Gerrit Cole, Paxton could help create a very powerful one-two punch if he remains consistent like he did last season.

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