PHOENIX — Clayton Kershaw spent this last day of his 20s clinging to his youth.
“I’m 29,” Kershaw joked on Sunday. “I don’t know what everybody’s talking about.”
That all changes on Monday with Kershaw turning 30, so let’s take a look at where Kershaw stands in baseball history at this point in his career.
Kershaw has three Cy Young Awards to his credit, joining Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez and Greg Maddux as the only pitchers to win three before turning 30. Maddux won four.
Most pitching WAR before 30
Pitcher | WAR thru age-29 | WAR 30+ |
---|---|---|
Pitcher | WAR thru age-29 | WAR 30+ |
Walter Johnson | 99.2 | 53.4 |
Christy Mathewson | 77.2 | 21.2 |
Roger Clemens | 62.8 | 76.2 |
Bert Blyleven | 59.6 | 37.0 |
Clayton Kershaw | 58.8 | TBD |
Tom Seaver | 58.0 | 48.3 |
Pedro Martinez | 57.3 | 28.8 |
Hal Newhouser | 57.3 | 3.4 |
In his 10 major league seasons Kershaw has accumulated 58.8 Wins Above Replacement (the Baseball-Reference version). In the modern era (1901-present), only four pitchers had more through their age-29 season — Walter Johnson (99.2 WAR), Christy Mathewson (77.2), Roger Clemens (62.8) and Bert Blyleven (59.6).
Among five of the top six pitchers in WAR before 30, Clemens was the only one to accumulate more WAR later in his career though three others — Johnson, Blyleven and Tom Seaver — still had at least 37 WAR left in the tank.
“We’ve seen some guys as they get older, if they still have that fastball command and his ball still has life in the zone and can locate it with the slider and breaking ball,” manager Dave Roberts said Sunday. “The dominance that he’s had his entire career, that’s a big ask. But I still think he’s right there at the top of the game.”
Kershaw is 144-64 in his career with a 2.36 ERA, the lowest ERA by a starting pitcher in the live ball era. His 161 ERA+ is the third-best through his age-29 season, trailing only Martinez (169) and Johnson (166). The only other pitchers with a 150 ERA+ through the age-29 year are Clemens (152) and Old Hoss Radbourn (151).
Kershaw’s 144 wins before turning 30 rank fifth among pitchers who started their careers in the last 40 years, trailing only Dwight Gooden (157), Maddux (151), CC Sabathia (150) and Clemens (145).
Most strikeouts before 30
Pitcher | K before 30 | K 30+ |
---|---|---|
Pitcher | K before 30 | K 30+ |
Sam McDowell | 2,271 | 182 |
Bert Blyleven | 2,250 | 1,451 |
Walter Johnson | 2,245 | 1,264 |
Felix Hernandez* | 2,148 | 194 |
Clayton Kershaw | 2,120 | TBD |
Among Dodgers Kershaw has more wins before age 30 than Fernando Valenzuela (141), Don Sutton (139) and Sandy Koufax (138). The only Dodgers pitcher with more wins before turning 30 was Don Drysdale with 170.
With 2,120 strikeouts before 30, Kershaw ranks fifth, behind only Sam McDowell (2,271), Blyleven (2,250), Johnson (2,245) and the still-active Felix Hernandez (2,148).
“With a wife and two kids I started feeling old and now I’m 30,” Kershaw said. “Pitching wise I don’t feel old though. But everything is telling me the game is getting younger, for sure.
“It’s been a lot of fun. I’m not a very reflective person but I don’t take for granted my time in the game. Hopefully I get to do it for a little bit longer.”