James Paxton threw only 41 pitches on Saturday, failing to record an out in the second inning before manager Aaron Boone decided he had seen enough from his left-hander.

Given that Paxton is coming off of back surgery to remove a cyst in early February, there’s obvious cause for concern that the 31-year-old might not be fully healthy. But Boone isn’t ready to sounds the warning bells just yet.

“I'm not alarmed,” Boone said. “I feel like physically he is sound. I think it's a matter of really getting his delivery and finding that click where he's extending through the ball. That's what he's been searching for these last few weeks.”

Unsurprisingly, Paxton wasn’t pleased with his effort in his first start of the season.

“I didn't feel great,” he said. “I didn't have the great fastball, didn't have a breaking ball to put guys away with. I was able to get to two strikes on some guys but just couldn't make pitches to put them away.”

Paxton did not appear in any of the Yankees’ three exhibition games earlier in the week, but did toss 84 pitches in a simulated game on Monday. Boone thinks it’s more of a rust issue for Paxton as opposed to his health, and found some positives in his scoreless first inning.

“It seemed like he didn't have quite his velocity tick up yet,” Boone said. “But I thought in the first inning he was really good with his cutter and his curveball. But by the end of the inning everything started to flatten out. I'll have to look and see if he came out of his mechanics a little bit, but I thought it just got a little flat on him in the second.”

Paxton’s lack of velocity is certainly something to keep an eye on. YES reported that his average fastball clocked in at 91.8 mph, the lowest total of his career. Paxton said after the game that he hasn’t been able to get it into the mid-to-high 90s since his surgery, but it’s something he’s trying to build up to.

“I think it'll come in time, but it's definitely something that I want to address and look at going forward,” Paxton said.

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