Look up any statistic for Major League pitchers this season and you’ll find Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw ranked first, or near it, in every noteworthy category.
Kershaw notched his 10th win on Wednesday, throwing 7.1 innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks, with two runs allowed and 11 strikeouts. It was the ninth time in 14 starts this season where Kershaw recorded double-digit strikeouts.
Kershaw also reached double-digit wins for a seventh straight season, doing so in the second-lowest number of starts; in 2014, he won his 10th game by his 13th start.
Of course, how much to stock to put into Kershaw’s win total is somewhat a topic of debate given pitcher wins are commonly viewed as an archaic stat.
While there’s been a groundswell movement in recent years to evaluate pitchers based on other measurables — namely advanced stats — Kershaw explained why he believes pitcher wins carry some significance, via Bill Plunkett of the OC Register:
“Something. Not everything. But something,” Kershaw said when asked if he thinks a won-loss record for a pitcher means anything. “There is something to being able to win games. I talked about Zack Greinke the other day – he started off slow here but he has nine wins. He just always knows how to win. There are starters out there that find ways to win and there are starters out there too that find ways to lose games.
“I don’t know if you can necessarily go by your record. But you know when guys take the mound that have the aptitude to win the game, and I think guys know how to do that better than others at times.”
Beginning Thursday, Kershaw was tied for second in the Majors with 10 wins; the Dodgers are 13-1 in games he’s started, and 22-31 otherwise. Kershaw leads the Majors in strikeouts (133), ERA (1.58), ERA+ (243), FIP (1.65), WHIP (0.66) and innings pitched (108), among other categories.
What’s more, Kershaw’s 19-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio is on pace to shatter Phil Hughes’ 11.63 ratio set with the Minnesota Twins in 2014.
