Madgear's Prospect Perspective #3

Name:Clayton Edward Kershaw
Place on my top Rookies:#3
Bats: Left
Throws: Left
Height: 6-3
Weight: 220
Born: March 19, 1988

How do you follow up 2006 when you post a 13-0 record with an ERA of 0.77 and recorded 139 strikeouts in 64 innings in HS? Hmm lets see, how about obliterating the Gulf Coast League(37 innings,54 Strike outs, Only 5BB's), while compiling a record of 2-0 with a 1.95 ERA.
Keep in mind he's still only 18 at this point.

Kershaw's fastball-curve combination completely annihilated hitters in HS and the lower levels of A, The Dodgers wanted to see how he could handle low A so they decided to promote him, and they weren't disappointed.

At just 19, Clayton was clearly the best pitcher in the Midwest League and was selected to play on the EAST Team in the 2007 Midwest League All Star Game. Kershaw was then selected to appear in the All-Star Futures Game for the USA Team.

Kershaw was rewarded by being promoted to AA and seemed to handle the promotion Pretty well. When Clayton reached the Southern league, he started to implement a changeup, which allowing him to finish second in strikeouts per nine innings.

How this for 2 years in minor league ball
10-7, 159 IP, 117 H, 217 K, 72 BB, 17 WP, 2.72 ERA, 1.19 WHIP

*Weakness*
I wish we could all have as many weaknesses in our game as Clayton but he's not exempt. Clayton is no finesse pitcher and the amount of walks he gives up coupled with the amount of wild pitches he threw means that he's got to work on his control better.
At Great Lakes, he had a walk rate of over 4 1/2 walks per nine innings, and in Jacksonville AA, it jumped to over six walks per nine innings.
Thats quite a number of walks and his dynamic stuff helped him get out of those situations, but MLB hitters take advantage of free passes so he wont be able to compensate like he did in the minors.

-When he will have an impact?-
Well, this is a good question and It depends on a number of issues.
1-Can he keep the walks down
2-Can he develop one or two pitches to keep hitters of his main two pitches fast-ball(avg. 96) Curve(75-77) @_@
3-How will he fare in AAA? Kershaw has put up sick numbers but his rising ERA from low A, to A to AA means hes dominant but hitters are figuring him out little by little.

I think the most important issue is going to be how the #4 and 5 pitchers do for the dodgers, E. Loaiza and J.Schmidt are both question marks and I'd hate to see the dodgers rush Kershaw up just because the back of the rotation is old and injury prone.
I wouldnt mind a september call up just to give him a taste of the big leagues. In 2009, look out NL West.

-Awards/Accomplishments
08/28/2007 MID Prospect of the Year
08/28/2007 MID Post-Season All-Star
08/27/2007 SOU Pitcher of the Week
07/08/2007 Futures Game Selection
06/19/2007 MID Mid-Season All-Star
06/04/2007 MID Pitcher of the Week

Before I get to the nicknames, random and funnies I just want to point out what a sick pitching rotation the Dodgers could have in 2009, how does this look to the Dodger faithful
1-Penny
2-Lowe
3-Billingsley
4-Kuroda
5-Kershaw
I like.

I'll leave the nicknames to you guys and end this with 2 quotes from two major league players.

Sean Casey:
“That was some of the best stuff I have seen in a long time as far as a new arm, Casey said.“The first pitch was a hammer, and I hate to say it was almost (Barry) Zito-like, but it broke with this 12-6 tilt. Imagine that from a guy who hits 97 (mph) with his fastball. Then he threw me another one that froze me. That was great stuff, big-league stuff, and I think he could help that team this year.

Russ Martin:
“He keeps his fastball down and knee high, Martin said. “There's not really much you can do with a 96-mile-per-hour fastball knee high. And he has that tremendous breaking ball. The hitters have to pick one because if they're sitting on one, they cant hit the other. He's pitching like a major-league pitcher. You can just tell by how the hitters are reacting to his stuff, getting jammed, buckling on curveballs.