Kershaw will never win a Cy Young

by neutralluke on May 2, 2008 10:27 PM EDT Comment 21 comments

Sure the k's are nice and it's tough to argue with the 1.11 era but c'mon, the guy doesn't even have a win yet.

In all seriousness, is this kid the best pitcher in the minors right now? Is he going to dominate when he gets his well deserved call up in the second half? How soon till he starts causing winter to be summer and summer winter by throwing the earth off it's axis with his blazing fastball?

Also, can someone please anywhere give Lucas May some love? Two more xbh's tonight with a homer and a double. Now batting .319 .404 .650 something as a 23 year old CATCHER. He's putting up numbers very similar to Gamel's after adjusting for unsustainable BABIP and he's a CATCHER compared to a "third baseman", a term I think should be used very loosely when describing Gamel anyways. Did I mention that he's a CATCHER?

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I'm confused...

so he is going to win a cy young? Seems like you have a pretty big mancrush on him. But if you are being sarcastic, which I believe you are, I don’t think, based on his peripherals, you can say he will not win a cy young. That does not make any sense.

by asyouwish33 on May 2, 2008 10:38 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Ill say one thing

Im sick and tired of people gushing about that curveball to Sean Casey in the spring.

Was it good? Sure. Was it the best youve ever seen? NO EFFIN WAY. Every week you see better curves in the majors. I dont know if people are seeing what they want to see, but it wasnt the end all be all of curveballs and Im sick of it. Its like the guy is a friggin Yankee prospect. Its ridiculous.

I know a bunch of people are going to say youre wrong, it was sick. I dont want to hear it. Not that incredible. You need to watch more baseball if that impressed you THAT much. The constant love for that curveball is embarassing and ridiculous. Stop already.

by alskor on May 2, 2008 10:44 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

curveball

it wasn’t just the curveball, but the whole sequence in that AB.

It also didnt hurt to have a legend like Vin Scully giving it a nickname.

by npurcell on May 2, 2008 10:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It's more than a plus pitch for sure

but we’ll see how overrated it is, if it is at all, when he gets to use it against Major League bats. It’s definitely huge but I think late, sudden break is more dazzling and deceiving. Then again, Barry Zito’s curve back in his heyday was a big, slow one and I remember it driving offenses fits. And Kershaw has a 95 fastball to counter it with. Ether way, there’s no denying the kid’s stuff isn’t going to hold his career back. Maybe big curveballs are less deceiving, but their size and depth do make it extremely difficult to track.

by elrey34 on May 2, 2008 11:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think you might be missing the point.

I dont think Kershaw is overrated, or that his curveball in general is overrated. I think that ONE PITCH has been talked about WAY TOO MUCH. Not even “his curveball.” His curve is nasty. I just think too much was made of the youtube of one curveball he threw to Sean Casey in spring training. Kershaw has nasty stuff that Im certain will get MLB hitters out. Im not talking about his curve – Im talking about this ONE FRIGGIN PITCH that people wont stop talking about for some insane reason. It got way too hyped to begin with, and the fact people are still talking about it is absurd.

I would DEFINITELY take Zito’s curve in his prime over Kershaw’s duece. I think the Red Sox have TWO guys with better curves! Beckett and Buchholz. Both nastier than Kershaw’s, and not that close. Its not even the best pitch on his own team! DLowe’s sinker and Penny’s heater. It was a nice pitch, but the adulation Ive seen is absurd and makes me want to stab my eyes out. Every effing week Ive seen someone mention that pitch to Casey – its friggin May now… its time for that to stop. It wasnt that great!

I mean – it was SEAN CASEY. Wow! You buckled Sean Casey’s knees? He was looking for a walk anyway! Seriously, though, David Wells used to throw 60 curves better than that EVERY GAME…

by alskor on May 3, 2008 3:10 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Settle Down Francis

You’re the only person who bought up that pitch in the whole thread. Next time break the pill in half.

I reject your reality and substitute my own.

by WayneCampbell08 on May 5, 2008 12:04 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

nitpick

I wouldn’t put Penny’s heater anywhere close to the top of the list of best pitches on the Dodgers staff. Oh sure, he throws it hard, throws it hard consistently, and has pretty good control of it. But that belies the fact that the pitch comes to the plate with very little movement.

Penny can fall in love with the velocity, thinking he can strike guys out, and he ends up tiring himself by the fifth inning because of all the foul balls he produces. Penny gets by because at this point he’s veteran enough to know how to use the fastball—and how to complement it with a very nice curve (which I actually think is a better pitch for him). The fastball is very hittable as far as 94-96 MPH heat goes.

If you’re making a list of best pitches in the Dodger organization, you probably start with Broxton’s fastball, Kuo’s fastball, or one of Billingsley’s offerings. Or Kershaw’s curve. ;)

by jumanjifan01 on May 5, 2008 1:36 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Clayton

The weird thing is that Kershaw hasn’t had that breakout game yet this year. By breakout, I mean that 7ip+ 12k+ game where he has totally dominated. He has just been incredibly consistent this whole year; which is extremely rare for a young pitcher.

Small sample size i know but so far so good!

by npurcell on May 2, 2008 10:45 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Lucas May

how do you hitt 25 HR and 25 doubles and still have a sub 800 OPS lol..oh wait, that horrific K:BB ratio dosent help..he is puttingup some numbers though

by jsmall404 on May 2, 2008 10:55 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Well

I think that was due mostly to his very low BABIP and low walk rate. He’s doubled his walk rate while continuing to show a tremendous amount of power, especially for a catcher.

by neutralluke on May 2, 2008 11:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

best curveball

Clay in his no hitter against markakis?

by Duece on May 2, 2008 11:13 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Simply the Best

On rare occasion, ESPN Classic will grace us with this guy’s curveball, and I’m pretty sure that it’s the best I’ve ever seen.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=dm8oHYRS6hA (check at about 1:25)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=VGYbP9woJg4

by GuyinNY on May 2, 2008 11:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Jeebus!

I never watched Koufax pitch; those YouTubes are the closest thing for me. Wow, that was some kinda hook!!

Thanks for passing those links along.

Formerly Uncle Charlie of Minor League Ball

by Yakker on May 3, 2008 1:11 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Definitely

The two pitchers with the best stuff in their prime(in no particular order):

-Sandy Koufax
-Pedro Martinez

I put those two on a pedastal above the rest. All of Petey and Sandy’s pitches were plus plus. They both had relatively short careers, too. If you had to choose a guy to win one game for you it would be one of these two, no question. If you want to talk “best pitcher” others pass them by being consistently excellent for a long time, but no one could match these two at their best. I remember seeing magizine surveys where they voted for the best pitcher for each pitch in like 1999 and Pedro won for Fastball, Change, Curve and Slider. This was in the highest peak of the hitter’s era, too.

by alskor on May 3, 2008 3:18 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Holy shit that was amazing from Koufax

by Fett42 on May 3, 2008 10:53 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Is that first video real?

It looks like visual effects. The ball kind of skips in a very unnatural way.

by Galt on May 3, 2008 3:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It's 100% Real

A wonderful anomaly in baseball.

by GuyinNY on May 6, 2008 9:38 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

winless...

because he can’t do it all. Granted through 6 starts, Kershaw sports an 0-3 record, he is simply not getting any help offensively. In his last five starts Kershaw dealt with two games where the offense has produced 0 runs with 4 or 5 hits, two games in which he left with the scored tied at 2-2 and 1-1, and shut down the power offense from Huntsville, leaving with a 2-0 lead only to watch his bullpen give up 4 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning. Yes he hasn’t had that dominant game of having 10-14ks in 6 IP, but can it honestly be said that a guy, 20 years old in AA, sporting a 1.11 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, .197 AVG against, 36 K in 32.1 IP with no run support, has absolutely no chance to ever win a CY Young?

by DubB24 on May 3, 2008 12:53 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Well

If you are being serious, the truth is that the odds are that you are correct. Young pitchers try and be the exception and live up to their potential. That being said, this guy has a better chance than anybody else under the age of 22 to win a Cy in the future in my opinion.

by Reddrummer9187 on May 3, 2008 1:09 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Lucas May

He hasn’t played every game, so he needs just a few more PA to qualify to show up in the league leaders in stats. Until then he may not get noticed as much as Matt LaPorta, Mat Gamel, Luis Valbuena, Michael Brantley, or Ivan DeJesus (just running down some of the interesting young bats in that league).

by acerimusdux on May 3, 2008 2:20 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs