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Clayton Kershaw Bio
updated 3 years, 7 months ago
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Clayton Kershaw Early Career
The Dodgers drafted Clayton Kershaw straight out of high school as the seventh pick of the 2006 Major League Baseball draft. He was considered the top high school pitcher available and signed with the Dodgers after turned down the scholarship to Texas A&M.
Kershaw began his professional career with the Gulf Coast League Dodgers in 2006. He struck out 57 batters over 37 innings and only walked five with an ERA of 1.95. He rated as the top prospect in the Gulf Coast League, ranked the number two Dodger prospect behind Andy LaRoche. In 2007 he moved up to the Great Lake Loons, where he went 7-5 with a 2.77 ERA. He made the Midwest League All-Star Team and played on the USA team in the All-Star Futures Game. On August 6 of that year, he was called up to the Double-A Jacksonville Suns, where he went 1-2 with a 3.65 ERA in five starts. He was the Dodgers top prospect heading into the 2008 season.
In 2008, Clayton Kershaw started the season off with the Suns. He went 0-3 and a 2.28 ERA in 43 ⅓ innings before making his Major League debut on May 25 against the St. Louis Cardinals. In that game, he struck out seven hitters that game over six innings and allowed two runs. He unfortunately also went 0-2 with an ERA of 4.68 in seven starts before bouncing back down to Jacksonville. He jumped back up on July 22 for his first big league win on July 27 against the Washington Nationals.
Notable Events and Awards
Kershaw is a 3-time Cy Young winner earning his first one in 2011 when he went 21-5 with an ERA of 2.28 with five complete games. He struck out 248 batters that season and only walked 54. His second Cy Young season came in 2013. Kershaw went 16-9 with ERA of 1.83 while striking out 232 and walking 52. His third Cy Young came the same year he also won National League MVP in 2014. That season he went 21-3, posting a ridiculous 1.77 ERA while striking out 231 and walking 31. In 2015 he had his first and, to this point, his only 300-strikeout season. Kershaw is also an 8x All-Star and has won the ERA Title 5x as well as a Triple Crown and Gold Glove.
One of Clayton Kershaw’s most memorable starts came on June 18, 2014, against the Rockies. Kershaw threw a no-hitter that night and struck out 15 batters and walked none. It would’ve been a perfect game had it not been for a 7th inning error by Hanley Ramirez. It was one of the most impressive no-hitters in baseball history.
Kershaw pitched in five World Series games, but his 2017 Game 1 against the Houston Astros was something special. Kershaw made it look easy throwing seven innings of one-run ball that night, striking out 11 and not walking a single batter.
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