Why is clayton kershaw so good

Business Visionaries. Hot Property. Times Events. Times Store. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options. Pitcher Clayton Kershaw in the Dodgers dugout after being pulled in the second inning Friday. By Bill Plaschke Columnist. He lowered his head. He slumped his shoulders. He slowed his steps. He kept the baseball.

Or it could have been goodbye. Sports For Giants, edging out rival Dodgers would bring extra joy. Clayton Kershaw walks off the mound with trainer Neil Rampe on Friday night. As Clayton Kershaw enters the latter stage of his career, look back at the top moments that made him such a dominating pitcher.

The Dodgers extended qualifying offers to shortstop Corey Seager and utility man Chris Taylor on Sunday, a method that rewards teams with draft-pick compensation if those players sign elsewhere. Kershaw, a three-time Cy Young Award winner who is arguably the greatest player in Dodgers history, didn't receive one, largely because of the uncertainty surrounding the health of his left arm.

He returned in the middle of September, but exited his Oct. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said then that Kershaw's ulnar collateral ligament is structurally sound and that he does not require Tommy John surgery, but it seems as though there is still a fear that he could be dealing with a long-term injury.

But in his mind, he wants to get to that point, where he feels good from a health standpoint, and go from there. This [the qualifying offer] would have accelerated the timeline in a way that he wasn't ready for, and I think just from our respect for him, and what he's done for this organization, that wasn't something that we wanted to do and put him on that kind of clock when he wasn't ready for it. Tony Gonsolin and David Price also could be part of the mix, but the Dodgers will express heavy interest in bringing back Max Scherzer and might be in play for other big names in free agency.

Trevor Bauer , who remains under criminal investigation over sexual assault allegations, is not expected to return to the team, regardless of the length of a potential suspension by Major League Baseball, though the Dodgers have yet to comment on the matter publicly. Friedman expressed enthusiasm about the emerging crop of young starting pitchers at the organization's minor league levels and said his goal in filling out the rotation is to "bridge the short term, not lock up pitching spots looking out and preventing opportunities.

A hitter is not aware of the patterns Kershaw displays nor can they be expected to know what is coming in most counts. Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus had the following to write about Kershaw, while naming him the No.

As you can see, Kershaw received rave reviews from the 'experts'. In this afternoon's game, Kershaw has gotten his fastball up to 97 mph, and his curveball has been dropping down to 72mph. While both are explosive pitches, they undeniably have a different release point and delivery. I believe once hitters begin to recognize this, they will start hitting Kershaw hard. Vin Scully commented that Kershaw throws his fastball at 'maximum effort'. What I have loved about Kershaw is his ability to run fastballs inside on right-handed hitters.

Either a letter-high or belt-high fastball has been swung on and missed multiple times in this outing, and in essentially every pitch, Kershaw would have posted a called strike.

To this point, it appears as though Kershaw has thrown one changeup, which surprised Pujols. This is definitely an exciting debut for the year old.