Clayton Kershaw Wins Sporting News Player Of The Year
Kershaw already was named Baseball America’s Player of the Year because of his dominant season. The Dodger ace was also named to the Sporting News All-Star team with teammate Dee Gordon on Wednesday. He is expected to claim his third Cy Young award and considered a favorite for National League MVP as well.
On Thursday, it was announced that Kershaw was honored once again via the official Twitter account of the Sporting News:
The players voted & @Dodgers P @ClaytonKersh22 wins @SN_Baseball Player of the Year! http://t.co/N8OhYjornl pic.twitter.com/1xZ28TDkCW
— Sporting News (@sportingnews) October 23, 2014
The 26-year-old was voted on by his peers, narrowly defeating Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim outfielder Mike Trout by three votes. He becomes the seventh Dodger to win the award and fifth Dodger pitcher. The last Dodger to win the award was Orel Hershiser in 1988. Kershaw was named the Sporting News NL Pitcher of the Year in 2011 and 2013.
According to Jesse Spector of the Sporting News, Kershaw was proud of his latest accomplishment:
It’s awesome,” Kershaw said of the honor. “It really is cool to have that respect from other guys in the league. That’s a huge compliment. For my peers to give that to me, that’s awesome.”
Along with his record and ERA, the left-hander also led the league in FIP, WHIP, ERA+ and K/9. He was also among the league leaders in strikeouts despite missing a month of the season. His dominant regular season did not translate in the postseason, where he lost both of his starts to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Kershaw should continue to rack up honors throughout the award season.
Well deserved…and beating out Trout…well that is just icing on the cake