If you were one of the people lucky enough to draft Clayton Kershaw you are reaping the rewards from a pitcher that is arguably the best pitcher in the majors. He is pitching well in fact that you may be wondering if he will actually be able to keep up this pace. If that is fear then fear not because Kershaw truly is as dominant as his stats are saying.
His 2.04 ERA, .920 WHIP and 107 strikeouts in 79.1 innings look like video game numbers. These numbers are right in line though with how dominant Kershaw has been over the last six seasons. In fact over the last four seasons Kershaw has had a WHIP over 1.00 only once and his highest ERA during that same timeframe is only 2.53. As scary as it may seem Kershaw may actually be better than he has been. He is only 26 years old which means he is just now entering the prime of his career. In fact Kershaw has actually been a little bit unlucky which has led to his ERA being above 2.00. His FIP is 1.47 which means he could actually improve in the second half.
The biggest factors in Kershaw’s dominance has been the increased command and the increased strikeout rate. Kershaw has both the lowest walk rate and the highest strikeout percentage of his career. He is currently sitting at a walk rate BB9 of 1.2 and a K9 of 12.1. This is a devastating combo when you are limiting the walks and striking out as many batters as he is as every strikeout is a batter that never even put the ball in play for a chance of a base hit.
If you were wondering whether or not to sell or buy on Kershaw based on his performance to this point I am buying it. If you already have Kershaw enjoy the ride and expect numbers just as dominant in the second half as they are in the first half. If you don’t have Kershaw well there isn’t much you are going to be able to do to get him onto your team. The package you would have to put together to get a player of his caliber would be far too detrimental to your team. Maybe if he strings together a couple of bad outings together you could squeeze him away from his owner but I wouldn’t bet on it as he has a 28 scoreless inning streak going right now.
For now enjoy the freak of nature that is Clayton Kershaw, and watch for him to continue to dominate the National League for many years to come.