Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw Cracks the Top 10 in Pitcher Power Rankings
It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to post something like this. After dominating the pitcher power rankings for years with the Dodgers, Clayton Kershaw has barely been mentioned as being one of the best over the last few years. That appears to be changing, as Kershaw was just ranked int he top 10 in this week’s MLB power rankings.
Kershaw came in at number 10 on the list, so he just barely made the cut. But after allowing just two earned runs over his last four starts, he makes it back on the list. During that stretch, Kershaw has also racked up 29 strikeouts and issued just 5 walks for the Dodgers.
For Clayton, 2020 has been somewhat of a comeback season already. Across six starts, he owns a 1.50 ERA to go along with a ridiculous 0.72 WHIP. He is striking out opposing batters at a rate similar to his best years and walking guys very rarely. He is just one of the many reason why he Dodgers have been so successful early on.
The interesting thing is that Kershaw is doing it all with a slight uptick on his velocity. He is averaging 1.2 mph faster on his four-seamer this year and is also going to his slider more and more. With his next start lined up to be in the Dodgers matchup against Arizona, he could potentially see even better numbers next week.
The Dodgers have just 20 games left in the season as they carry a 6-game lead in the NL West into Friday night.
Dodgers: Dave Roberts Thinks Clayton Kershaw’s Health Has Him Pitching Like An Ace
Increased Velocity certainly helps. Control, location and changing his pitch mix have been the reason for Kershaw’s success this year.
Kershaw now throws his breaking pitches as first pitch and to produce swing and misses later in the count. The Fastball used to be his dominant pitch now he uses it as a complement.
He threw a 93 mph fastball almost down the middle of the plate on Locastro’s 12 pitch at bat to freeze him and strike him out.
Because there’s no cheating Astros waiting at the end, Kershaw gets to sweep – yeah I said it regardless of what Christopher Russo thinks – the narrative of his playoff failures away. Had the Astros not digitally altered game 5 in ’17, we wouldn’t have to speak of this and would have honored Kershaw as the series MVP. But they did. Screw the Padres, this is the karma year for both Kershaw and the Dodgers. To the Padres: maybe next year.