Michael De Wayne Paxton (born September 3, 1953) is a former Major League Baseball starting pitcher.

He debuted with the Red Sox on May 25, 1977, starting the second game of a doubleheader with the Minnesota Twins, as he pitched 2.1 innings to take the loss.

Following his only season with the BoSox, Paxton was dealt to the Cleveland Indians with Ted Cox, Bo Díaz and Rick Wise for Dennis Eckersley and Fred Kendall.

His most productive season came in 1978 with Cleveland, when he recorded career-highs in wins (12), strikeouts (96), ERA (3.86), shutouts (2), complete games (5) and innings pitched (191.0).

The Indians defeated the Royals 8-5 and Paxton pitched the final three innings of the game, preserving the win for starting pitcher Wayne Garland.