He made his MLB debut for Baltimore on July 1,1975,at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox and finished the season with a 3-0 record and a 3.63 earned run average in 11 games. In January of 1976,Jim Henneman of The Sporting News wrote that due to young pitchers "like Paul Mitchell and Mike Flanagan...the Orioles would no doubt be willing to sacrifice a pitcher with [Mike] Torrez's ability if it meant getting [Reggie] Jackson in return."[5] Sure enough,the Orioles did trade Torrez to the Oakland Athletics for Jackson on April 2,but they included Mitchell in the deal. Don Baylor was the third player sent over from Baltimore,and in addition to Jackson,the Orioles also acquired Ken Holtzman and minor-league right-handed pitcher Bill Van Bommel.[6]
Mitchell posted a 9-7 record for Oakland in 1976 but struggled early in 1977 and was dealt mid-season to the Seattle Mariners,who had joined the American League as an expansion team for the 1977 season. In 1978,Mitchell led Seattle pitchers in wins,posting an 8-14 record for a Mariners team that lost 104 games. In 1979,Seattle traded Mitchell to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for Randy Stein. Mitchell made his final appearance with Milwaukee on September 21,1980,against Seattle and was released prior to the 1981 season.[7]
In all,Mitchell pitched in six major league seasons,recording a career win–loss record of 32–39 in 162 appearances. He is tied with four others for the all-time major league career record for fielding percentage among pitchers who have at least 500 innings pitched.[8] In 621.1 innings of work,Mitchell handled 114 chances,recording 32 putouts and 82 assists without a single error,for a perfect career fielding percentage of 1.000.
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