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Dodgers 2019 Player Reviews: Clayton Kershaw

Jeff Spiegel
3 Min Read
Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports

Was Clayton Kershaw good for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2019? Honestly — without looking up his statistics, what does the narrative in your head say?

Spending an abundance of time on social media, the pervasive sense is that he is slipping (which is accurate). However, to the point that he’s nearing “average,” which couldn’t be further from the truth).

Yes, Kershaw’s velocity is slipping. Yes, he is no longer the same guy that led the Majors in ERA for basically a decade and was a shoe-in for the Cy Young’s top-three every year.

But he’s still really freaking good.

Consider this…

For the first time since 2008 (his rookie season), Kershaw’s ERA rose above 3.00 — all the way to 3.03, good for the 10th-best mark in all of baseball.

His 16 wins tied for the fourth-best mark of his career, while his 178.1 innings pitched were the most he has thrown since 2015. It’s also worth noting that Kershaw’s K/9 rate was up almost an entire strikeout from 2018.

Of course, none of that will be remembered because of what transpired with Clayton Kershaw in the playoffs — and in Game 5 of the National League Division Series in particular. Not to open up old wounds, but let’s just remember that manager Dave Roberts deserves infinitely more blame than Kershaw for everything that happened there.

2019 highlight

On Aug. 14 the Dodgers faced Miami Marlins, and, well, Kershaw treated them like a Minor League team. He did so the tune of seven innings, two hits and 10 strikeouts. All in all it was vintage Kershaw, and a reminder that while he isn’t elite every single time he takes the mound, he still has something special in him.

2020 outlook

With news of Hyun-Jin Ryu joining the Toronto Blue Jays, it means that Kershaw is firmly entrenched as the Dodgers’ No. 2 starter behind Walker Buehler.

Now entering age-32 season (he’ll turn 32 in March), the Dodgers will rely on Kershaw to hang on for another year or two while they wait for Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin and Julio Urias to make the jump.

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Jeff Spiegel was raised in California but currently resides in Portland, Oregon. After graduating from the University of Oregon, he worked in sports before entering journalism full time — first as a Sports Reporter and then as the Associate Editor of a local newspaper. Online, he has been writing about both the Dodgers and Raiders since 2012 — having written for DodgersNation.com and SBNation.com prior to joining both DodgerBlue.com and RaidersNation.com. He left full-time journalism in 2012 to become a pastor. Jeff can be found on Twitter at @JeffSpiegel. Favorite Dodger I'm going past and present (sort of) on this one. Recently, I was a die hard Yasiel Puig guy. The energy he played with was amazing and the hope and expectation he brought every single night was captivating. Whether it was a rifle from the warning track to throw a guy out at second, an aggressive bat flip or licking his bat, I was here for ALL of the Yasiel Puig era. Past tense, I'd go with Eric Gagné. This wasn't so much about Gagné himself as it was the experience of cheering for him. Yes, he was on steroids — but the dude was unlike any pitcher I've ever seen — he was NASTY. I still stand by the claim that if I needed one out and my life depended on it, and could choose any pitcher from any era to get me that out, I'm taking roided up Gagné in a heartbeat. Favorite Dodger Moment A few jump to mind immediately. Being born in November of 1988, I missed the last World Series by weeks — which also meant I didn't get to see the Dodgers win a playoff game until I was nearly 16. They had made the playoffs in 1995 and 1996, but were swept both times. In 2004, though, I got to see them win behind a complete game shutout from Jose Lima, and that was pretty freaking special. The next in-person moment that came to mind was the Manny Ramirez bobblehead night pinch-hit grand slam from 2009. Vin Scully claimed it was the loudest he had heard Dodger Stadium in 20 years, and it's hard to disagree. As far as ones I didn't get to see live, I'll throw one more out there: the back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs that tied a game against the Padres in 2006 (plus the walk-off from Nomar Garciaparra in extra innings) was an all-timer. Obviously, the impending Dodgers World Series will quickly jump to the top of this list...