James Paton

James grew up in New Milford, New Jersey and attended Regis High School in New York City. During his high school baseball career, he flirted with multiple no-hitters and one perfect game, but the highlight of his time at Regis came when he shutout the defending league champions, Iona Prep, during his junior season. James' unexpected success catapulted him to the forefront of his regional recruiting class, receiving interest from numerous D1, D2, and D3 schools. He ultimately chose to complement his baseball prowess with academic distinction and committed to play collegiate baseball at Kenyon College. When James arrived on campus in the fall of 2017, he quickly came across as a dedicated, hard-worker who would do anything he could in order to become the best pitcher he could be. Injuries, and subsequent lapses in confidence, derailed James' first two collegiate seasons, but in the winter of 2019, he was presented with the opportunity to try out for the Russian National Baseball Team.

In February of 2020, right before the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, James flew to Moscow and quickly impressed the Russian National Team's coaching staff, which led to a formal offer to join the team in its upcoming international campaign. As a result of border closings and numerous flight cancellations, James stayed in Russia to train with the national team and attend school virtually until his graduation in May of 2021. During his time in Moscow, James was a part of a national team that competed in international tournaments against the Czech Republic, Israel, Italy, Spain, Belarus, Turkey, Ukraine, Slovenia, Belgium, Germany, France, Great Britain, and Switzerland, most of which rostered former and current MiLB/MLB players. So far, the highlight of James' international career came against the Turkish National Team in the 2021 European Championship Qualification Tournament, a game where James struck out 11 batters in 4 innings and combined for a no-hitter. 

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Concurrent to his involvement with the Russian National Team, James pitched professionally for two seasons with RusStar Baseball Club, a team based out of Moscow. In his two seasons with the team as a member of their starting rotation, RusStar won back-to-back league championships and James was voted by his peers to multiple all-star game appearances. 

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