Even with Zack Greinke‘s historically-great 2015 season, Clayton Kershaw reigned as the Los Angeles Dodgers’ unquestioned ace. Kershaw got off to a slow start last season — by his standards — but turned the proverbial corner and finished with another dominant year.
On top of leading the Majors in several advanced metrics, Kershaw finished with 301 strikeouts to become the first pitcher to reach the plateau since 2002, when Arizona Diamondbacks teammates Randy Johnson (334) and Curt Schilling (316) both did so.
There was no getting out of the gate slowly this season for Kershaw, which is fortunate for the Dodgers, who have needed every bit of his brilliance.
The 2014 National League MVP and three-time Cy Young Award winner was particularly dominant during the month of May, throwing three complete-game shutouts.
In Sunday’s rubber match against the New York Mets, Kershaw added to 10 more to his season strikeout total. He now owns a 21-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, which is on pace to shatter Phil Hughes’ 11.63 ratio set with the Minnesota Twins in 2014.
Initially unaware of Kershaw’s astounding ratio, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts marveled at it, per ESPN’s Doug Padilla:
“I didn’t even know that stat,” manager Dave Roberts said afterward. “When you put it into context, which many of you guys can, when 2-to-1 is [a] pretty good strikeout-to-walk ratio, and now you’re looking at 20-to-1, that’s something you don’t imagine.”
A.J. Ellis pointed to Kershaw’s ratio as representation of him relentlessly attacking the strike zone:
“That’s a big unfathomable number right there, that ratio,” catcher A.J. Ellis said. “It speaks to his commitment to be aggressive in the strike zone. It speaks to his ability to put guys away. It shows who he is as a competitor.”
At the point of reaching 100 strikeouts this season, Kershaw became the first pitcher to reach that mark with fewer than seven walks. He started, and ended, the game with five walks this season.
