Clayton Kershaw, starting pitcher, Los Angeles Dodgers
At this point, there’s very little that can be said about Kershaw that hasn’t been said before. He’s the best pitcher in baseball and one of the greatest pitchers the game has ever seen. He’s not even 30 yet but if Kershaw never throws another pitch, he’s cruising to the Hall of Fame.
Unfortunately for opposing hitters, this Los Angeles ace is not retiring any time soon. He’s also showing no signs of slowing down. Two months into the year, Kershaw sports a 2.37 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and has 78 strikeouts in 76 innings.
Normally the key against top pitchers is to get pitches out of them with hopes that the pitch count will eventually catch up and knock them out of the game. But taking pitches against Kershaw only leads to a lot of 0-2 and 1-2 counts.
#Dodgers Clayton Kershaw has had more 3-0 counts this year as a batter than as a pitcher.
— Jeremy Frank (@MLBRandomStats) May 24, 2017
As a result, hitters are swinging earlier in the count. To be fair, that’s been moderately successful. Kershaw has allowed 1.2 home runs per nine innings. If he continues to allow homers at that pace, it would shatter his career high. But as his ERA and WHIP will tell you, most of those home runs are solo shots. When you’re as stingy at allowing runners as Kershaw is, solo shots just aren’t that big of a problem.
Additionally, when hitters are swinging early in counts (even if they’re successful), it keeps the pitch count down and allows Kershaw to go deeper into games. As a result, he’s gone at least seven innings in eight of his 11 starts. The Los Angeles bullpen certainly appreciates that.
It’s hard for pitchers to get MVP consideration, but Kershaw breaks the mold. He’s already claimed one NL MVP Award and if 2017 continues to go down this road, MVP No. 2 is a realistic possibility for the Dodger lefty.