With Jake Arrieta’s historically amazing run over the last year, and Noah Syndergaard’s emergence as a starting pitcher unlike anything we’ve ever seen, it seems Clayton Kershaw’s been — at least slightly — forgotten when talking amazing pitchers.
Which is pretty unfair to Kershaw, given that he’s been the best pitcher in baseball over the last several years, and you could make a great argument he’s still the best pitcher in the game right now (you really wouldn’t be “wrong” if you argued either Kershaw or Arrieta at the moment).
And Kershaw provided a great reminder of that on Thursday night, with a complete game shutout over the New York Mets. The left-hander allowed just three hits, one walk, and struck out 13.
13 more strikeouts for Clayton Kershaw. 5 straight w/10 or more. 77 K/4 BB in 2016. #Dodgers #Filthy https://t.co/zM0UVc8yfF
— Ryan Walton (@RyanWaltonSBN) May 13, 2016
How crazy are Kershaw’s numbers right now? The 13 strikeouts and one walk actually worsened his strikeout-to-walk ratio:
Kershaw struck out 13 and walked one – and his ratio for the season actually worsened. — Mike Puma (@NYPost_Mets) May 13, 2016
Kershaw has struck out 77 batters on the season, and walked just four. That’s good for a 19.25 K/BB rate (!).
in 2014, Phil Hughes set the MLB record for best K/BB by a starting pitcher: 11.36 K/BB (186/16)
Kershaw is currently at 19.25 K/BB (77/4)
— Cespedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) May 13, 2016
Kershaw also has a 1.74 ERA, a 1.47 FIP, and a 3.0 WAR per Fangraphs. So, using Fangraphs’ WAR (fWAR), he has been worth three wins over replacement level, in just eight starts. No other starter has been worth at least 2-fWAR this season, and only 32 pitchers were worth at least 3-fWAR over a full season last year (Kershaw led with 8.6).
Clayton Kershaw got to +3 WAR before any other pitcher got to +2. https://t.co/9lod8w0PZB — David Cameron (@DCameronFG) May 13, 2016
And Kershaw’s numbers over the past calendar year are every bit as insane:
Clayton Kershaw in the last 365 days:
34 starts
1.65 ERA
250 innings
322 strikeouts
35 walksWe’re watching an inner-circle Hall of Famer.
— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) May 13, 2016
Some more eye-opening Kershaw tidbits:
Clayton Kershaw’s carer ERA at Dodger Stadium is 2.06, in 131 starts. Since the start of 2009, it’s 1.97, in 120 starts — Eric Stephen (@truebluela) May 13, 2016
Clayton Kershaw is first Dodgers pitcher (back to 1913, at least) with 5 straight starts of double-digit strikeouts https://t.co/GwgNJUMBPJ
— Eric Stephen (@truebluela) May 13, 2016
Clayton Kershaw (@Dodgers): 8th career shutout with 10 strikeouts, twice as many as any other pitcher since he entered the majors in 2008
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 13, 2016
Kershaw has won three Cy Young awards — finishing second last year only because of Arrieta’s unheard of second half — and is off to quite a fantastic start in his hopes for a fourth. And he’s usually been a slow starter (aside from 2012 and 2013), before turning it on as the year goes on:
Clayton Kershaw’s career through the first eight starts of each year. Just in case you were wondering like me. pic.twitter.com/CaSB2FB4v6
— Ryan Walton (@RyanWaltonSBN) May 13, 2016
That is a scary, scary thought for National League hitters.