Joe Smith
On October 21st, 2014, Baseball America announced its player of the year and are you surprised it was none other than Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw. Sure Clayton Kershaw may wear jersey #22, but he is #1 in the eyes of all of baseball.
Clayton Kershaw pitched to a impressive 1.77 Earned Run Average which led all of baseball, along with 21 wins which also led all of baseball. The Los Angeles Dodgers were 23-4 in 27 starts that Kershaw started, and Clayton held his opponents to a .231 on base percentage.
In 2014, Clayton Kershaw finished with a record of 21-3, with a 1.77 ERA as previously mentioned, striking out 239 batters while walking only 31 batters in 198.1 innings pitched. Clayton Kershaw also finished the season with a .86 WHIP.
2014 was a very memorable year for Clayton Kershaw and although it may not have ended the way Clayton envisioned it, lets all remember one thing, Clayton is only 26 years of age and has a lot of baseball ahead of him. In what is probably the first of many awards to be given to Clayton, with his 3rd Cy Young coming his way, and most likely his First MVP award coming, Clayton wants nothing more than to bring a World Series Championship back to the City of Los Angeles.
The past four Baseball America winners of the Player of the year Award have come from Los Angeles, which includes Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2012, 2013 winner) and Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp (2011 winner). I would like to say on behalf of all of Los Angeles, thank you to Mr. Clayton Kershaw for this unbelievable season and I think we can all agree, this is just the start of a wonderful run by #22. So let me hear it, do you guys think Kershaw is the best pitcher of all time? Why and why not?
