Dodgers notes: Justin Turner talks hitting, Clayton Kershaw talks pitching

A look at some perspective on the Dodgers from a few outside sources shows a pair of revealing interviews.

Justin Turner talked hitting with Eno Sarris of FanGraphs. Turner changed his hitting philosophy while with the Mets in 2013 after talking with then-teammate Marlon Byrd. From Sarris:

After years of hearing about letting the ball travel deep in the zone, and giving the ball time, and staying back, Turner didn’t quite take to the advice right away. He challenged Byrd, but Byrd got him right back. "Pull up your film from all the balls that you’ve driven, and look where your contact point was," the outfielder told the infielder. "Even though I thought I was backing the ball up, when I looked at the balls I was driving, they were out in front of the plate," Turner admitted. "It really started making sense."

Clayton Kershaw talked about his puzzling start to 2015 with Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports. One one hand, Kershaw is 1-2 with a 4.26 ERA, but his peripheral numbers are as good as ever, and he sports a 2.91 FIP, a 2.23 xFIP and 2.47 SIERA. Kershaw seems to be of two minds about the role bad luck has played in his first seven starts:

"That stuff is one thing, which is fine," he said of the more sabermetrically inclined. "But, for me, my pitch execution hasn't been good. That's what I look at. I know, for me, I haven't pitched as well as I can."

"Sometimes it feels like it's your year – the line drives are getting caught. Sometimes it feels like it's not your year and the ground balls are getting through."

Elsewhere

Jeff Passan of Yahoo in his prospect heat check talked Corey Seager and Julio Urias, but also said of 27-year-old Josh Ravin, with has 19 strikeouts in 10⅓ innings to go with his 2.61 ERA in Triple-A Oklahoma City, "Ravin is almost sure to get a call to the major leagues at some point."

It's never too early to talk MLB draft, and Dustin Nosler at Dodgers Digest profiled Georgia high school pitcher Dakota Chalmers, who could be available to the Dodgers in one of their first two picks (No. 24, No. 35).

Charley Steiner talked Dodgers on the KTLA Morning News on Wednesday morning.