Remember when Clayton Kershaw had that really bad outing in San Diego and everyone was panicking? A lot of people were saying he was washed and he needs to hang up his cleats for good.
Ah, good times.
While Kershaw certainly doesn’t look the way he did in his prime, he’s been pretty damn good to start his 2024 season. Despite this being year 17 for the Hall-of-Famer, Kershaw has already posted numbers that a lot of starting pitchers dream about. Despite a horrific start against the Padres, Kershaw’s numbers look nearly identical to what we’ve seen over the last five years.
Sunday was the best start for Kershaw in over a year. He tossed six scoreless innings, needing only 70 pitches to do so. It was the first time since June 27, 2023 in which Kershaw went six innings. He went 12 starts in between in which he failed to reach that mark.
His Game Score of 65 yesterday was his highest of the season and was only the 10th time over his last 29 starts in which he’s reached that score. Despite only striking out two, Kershaw was still really, really, really good.
To be honest, Kershaw probably should have gotten the seventh inning. His pitch count was still relatively low and the bullpen needed to save arms. Instead, Dave Roberts pulled him after six. I personally have no issue with it.
Despite six scoreless innings, Kershaw wasn’t generating a lot of swing-and-misses. In his final inning, the Cardinals recorded two hits. Plus, the heart of the lineup was due up in the seventh. You pull Kershaw after six great innings, allowing him to feel fantastic about his start before he potentially could blow it in the seventh.
After yesterday, here are Kershaw’s numbers through five starts.
2.63 ERA
3.00 FIP
0.7 fWAR
154 ERA+
1.25 WHIP
Like I mentioned earlier, most starting pitchers would LOVE to have those kind of numbers. Kershaw is “washed” and is still one of the best starters in all of baseball.
Even though it hasn’t been super pretty, the expected numbers back it up as well. Kershaw’s expected ERA is 3.64 while his expected FIP is 3.97. Both are still really solid numbers that you will gladly take.
Kershaw isn’t generating the same swing-and-miss stuff as he has in previous seasons, as evident by his career-low strikeout percentage (18.8%). That just goes to show why he’s the greatest to do it. Despite a significant drop in strikeouts, he’s still able to retire guys relatively easy.
It might not feel like it, but Kershaw is on a pretty strong run right now. He’s now gone 18 consecutive starts in which he’s allowed three earned runs or fewer. Sure, he’s not going super deep into games so achieving that is a little easier, but that’s still pretty remarkable what he’s doing. It’s currently the longest active streak in the majors.
It’s been only five starts. His sample size is only 24 innings. There is a lot more we still need to see from him. But man, I’ve loved what I have seen him from him. He’s proved everything wrong in his 17th season. Not many people believed he could still be an effective pitcher, let alone a good pitcher.
Clayton Kershaw has still got it.