Paul Blackburn

BIOGRAPHY

Paul Blackburn was born on December 4, 1993, in Antioch, California. He is a pitcher in the MLB.

Blackburn was originally signed by Cubs scout Scott Fairbanks. He graduated from Heritage High School in Brentwood, California. Blackburn went 8-3 with a 1.27 ERA as a senior and tossed his first career no-hitter against Deer Valley.

In 2016 Blackburn began the season at Double-A Tennessee in the Chicago Cubs organization and was 6-4 with a 3.17 ERA in 18 starts when he was traded to the Seattle Mariners organization July 20. He was assigned to Double-A Jackson and went 3-1 with a 3.54 ERA in eight games (seven starts) with the Generals. Blackburn was ranked fourth in the Southern League in fewest walks per nine innings (2.12), tied for fourth in games started, sixth in ERA and innings pitched and tied for eighth in wins. He went 5-3 with a 4.18 ERA in 13 games (12 starts) after the break. He allowed a .256 opponents batting average, including .252 (69-for-274) against right-handed pitchers compared to .259 (69-for-266) against left-handers.

In 2018 Blackburn was limited to just six starts with Oakland due to two stints on the disabled list. He began the season on the DL with a strained right forearm, went 2-3 with a 7.16 ERA in six starts from June 7 to July 6.

Blackburn was reinstated from the DL June 7 and allowed one run in 6.0 innings for the win that day against Kansas City, then he went 0-2 with a 12.71 ERA over his next three starts from June 13 to 24, it was the first losing streak of his career. Paul allowed a career-high eight runs in a career-low 1.1 innings in a 13-5 loss to Houston on June 13. He tossed 6.1 shutout innings for the win on June 29 against Cleveland. Paul struck out a career-high five batters against the Indians, ending a career-opening streak of 14 consecutive starts of four strikeouts or fewer and more than one inning pitched. Blackburn allowed six runs on seven hits in 4.0 innings for the loss July 6 at Cleveland in his final appearance of the season. He was placed on the DL July 8 retroactive to July 7.