Paul Blackburn: Mets Pitcher (2024 - 2025)

Paul Cady Blackburn was born December 4th, 1993, in Antioch, California in the Bay Area. He attended high school in Brentwood, California & pitched a no hitter in his senior year.

In 2012 the six-foot one right hander was a first-round draft pick of the Chicago Cubs. In July 2016 he was traded to the Mariners organization & the at the end of the year he landed in Oakland in a trade for Danny Valencia. The Bay area native was an A's home-grown talent in their final years at Oakland.

MLB Career: On July 1st, 2017 Blackburn made his debut, giving the A's six innings while allowing just one run getting a no decision loss at Atlanta. 

In his second start he pitched into the 8th inning at Seattle, giving up just a run to earn his first career win. Blackburn was 3-1 with a 3.22 ERA into late August. On August 22nd he left the game with a contusion & ended up on the DL missing the rest of the season.

In 2018 he landed on the DL twice & made just six starts going 2-3. On June 29th he beat the

Cleveland Indians then would not earn another victory for over three years. 

In 2019 he spent most of the season at AAA Las Vegas where he was the teams MVP pitcher going 11-3. In June he was called up & made one start giving up five runs on three walks to the Rangers & returned to Vegas. He was called back in September, making three relief appearances. During the Covid-19 pandemic he made one MLB appearance.

In 2021 he started out at AAA Las Vegas getting called back up in late August. On August 18th he made his first start, taking a loss in Chicago to the White Sox. On September 16th, he earned his first win since 2018 with a long-awaited victory over the Royals in Kansas City.

In 2022 Blackburn would have his career best season. He started out the year at 5-0 with a 1.70 ERA thru May 25th. 

On June 10th he shut out his opponent for the fourth times on the season, this time in eight innings at Cleveland, only to get no decision as the A's lost the game in the 9th inning.

2022 All Star: Paul was 6-2 at the break & was named the A's lone representative at the All-Star
Game in Los Angeles. He pitched a scoreless bottom of the 4th inning striking out Joc Pederson in the 3-2 AL victory. 

After the break he landed on the DL two more times with a tear of the flexor tendon & made just three starts. hat year he went 7-6 with a 4.28 ERA in a career high 21 starts with 89 strike outs & 30 walks in 111.1 innings. 

Strangely he was 6-1 on the road with a 2.12 ERA as opposed to 1-5 with an 8.31 ERA at home, the highest ERA in team history for a pitcher with 30 or more innings.

In 2023 he struck out a career best 104 batters in 103.1 innings, the first-time he had more strikeouts than innings pitched. He also matched his career high with 21 starts, in games he did start the A's were 10-10, they team won just 50 games on the season (50-112). 

His best stretch came from July 22nd to September 8th when he posted a 2.52 ERA over nine games, allowing more than two runs in just one appearance.

2024: Blackburn began the year not allowing a run in his first three starts over 22.1 innings. The scoreless innings streak was the longest by an A's pitcher since Harry Krause in 1910, 114 years earlier. Thru his first four starts Paul was at 2-0 with a 1.08 ERA. 

On May 4th he gave up just one run to the Marlins in seven innings earning his third win. He then injured his foot & landed on the IL for two months.

At the trade deadline he was sent to the New York Mets for minor leaguer Kade Morris. Blackburn was expected to help strengthen up the back of the rotation

Mets Career: Blackburn went from the last place A's who were about to play their final season in Oakland to a Mets team fighting for a playoff spot in the wild card battle with three other teams.

On August 2nd, Blackburn made his Mets debut in Anaheim. He pitched six innings allowing just a run on six hits with six strike outs earning the victory. In his next start, he pitched well at Colorado giving up just one earned run thru six innings, getting no decision in the Mets eventual win.

On August 13th in his Citi Field debut, he faced his former A's teammates & they rocked him for seven runs (six earned) giving him his first loss in a Mets uniform. 

On August 18th he had another fine outing, allowing one run to the Marlins at Citi Field but got no decision when Huascar Brazoban & Phil Maton blew the game.

On August 23rd in San Diego, Blackburn served up HRs to Luis Arraez & Kyle Higashioka, allowing five runs overall in the Mets 7-0 loss to Joe Musgrove. 

In the 3rd inning of the game he suffered a contusion on his right hand when he was hit by a line drive comebacker to the mound. He left the game & would miss his next few starts.

Back Injury: In mid-September he was placed on the IL again with a spinal fluid leak in his back. 

He would miss the rest of the season & have a procedure to repair it in October. 

In five games with the Mets, he was 1-2 with three quality starts, but he posted a 5.18 ERA in 24.1 innings of work, striking out 21 & walking seven.

Career Stats: In his career Blackburn is 22-28 with a 4.85 ERA. He has 329 strike outs & 132
walks in 428.1 innings in 86 appearances (82 starts).

Family: Paul & his wife Stephanie have two children.

2025 Amazing Day: I met Paul & had a chance to chat with him a bit at the 2025 Amazing Day at Citi Field event. He was a really nice guy. When asked when he'll be back, he said "I'm ready now"!