Kershaw to Majors??

by Ray Guilfoyle on May 23, 2008 11:13 AM EDT

MLB.com, of all places, is speculating that Clayton Kershaw may be called up to start on Saturday, as he only pitched one inning this evening against Carolina.

"Dodgers phenom left-hander Clayton Kershaw had the kind of start for Double-A Jacksonville on Thursday night that will only fuel speculation he's about to become a Major Leaguer.

Kershaw faced three Carolina Mudcats, struck out two, then was yanked by manager John Shoemaker, completely healthy. By starting Thursday night, Kershaw is on schedule to start again Tuesday, which happens to be the next time the Dodgers need a fifth starter in Chicago.

But it could be sooner than that. By throwing only one inning and a pregame warmup (the equivalent of a bullpen session), Kershaw could be slipped into the Dodgers rotation as early as Saturday night, when Brad Penny is scheduled to start. That would buy an extra day or more for Penny, who has scuffled through his past four starts while pitching through shoulder stiffness."

This from Ken Gurnick who rarely posts speculative articles like this.

Here are some quotes from Kershaw-from Baseball America:

More Kershaw info from Baseball America:

http://tinyurl.com/4g6yxt

"I had no idea," Kershaw said. "I thought it was just a regular start tonight. When I got two outs, I saw the bullpen warming up, and I thought he was just throwing to get ready for later in the game. But they took me out. It wasn't (the Jacksonville coaching staff's) choice, it wasn't my choice, it's just what you've got to do sometimes. I don't know anything about it, I don't know why yet—hopefully it's good, but we'll see how it goes."

One would hope that Penny or Lowe just need an extra days rest and are not seriously injured, but the way they have pitched lately, its possible they are pitching hurt.

Poll

Will Clayton Kershaw be a better-than-average pitcher this season?

No.

7 votes

Yes if his innings are limited.

33 votes

Yes. He will be a Top 30 SP in the National League

18 votes

58 votes | Poll has closed

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quotes from AA Manager

taken from Jon Weisman’s DodgerThoughts blog:
Maybe this will happen, but I think it’s worth emphasizing that the only unusual thing that happened Thursday was not that Kershaw pitched a single inning, but that he wasn’t told he would only pitch a single inning. From Ben Badler of Baseball America:

“We had received a phone call from our office in L.A. that they wanted to limit him to just one inning,” Jacksonville manager John Shoemaker said. “The organization this year has been very cautious about the number of innings that he’s pitched and the amount of innings that he’s going to pitch each month. So we just follow the orders and we’ll probably hear more from them either tomorrow or later on this weekend.”

raygu

by Ray Guilfoyle on May 23, 2008 9:45 AM EDT reply actions

Kershaw update

Dodgers Kershaw to debut Sunday…
Posted by: Kevin Pearson from Press Enterprise

It appears as though Dodgers pitching phenom Clayton Kershaw will make his major league debut on Sunday and start against the St. Louis Cardinals. Currently at Class AA Jacksonville, Kershaw was pulled after one inning Thursday night to help put him in line to start on Sunday.

Wonder why it’s Sunday and not Saturday? I thought Penny pitched on Saturday….could be wrong.

raygu

by Ray Guilfoyle on May 23, 2008 10:34 PM EDT reply actions

from Tony Jackson

Kershaw to start Sunday
By Tony Jackson on May 23, 2008 7:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | ShareThis

All indications are that he will be recalled from Jacksonville Sunday morning and start that day’s game against the Cardinals, his major-league debut. The Dodgers begin a 17-day stretch without an off-day tonight, so they’ll need a fifth starter at least the next three times through the rotation, the first time that has happened this season. That makes this a good time to call him up and get him started, because he can start on a regular basis without having his routine interrupted. Not sure what will happen after that. He will likely fly to Los Angeles tomorrow. That means Chad Billingsley and Hiroki Kuroda will each be pushed back a day, so the Kuroda-Fukudome matchup won’t happen until Tuesday.

raygu

by Ray Guilfoyle on May 23, 2008 10:36 PM EDT reply actions

pitch count

Apparently Kershaw is going to be limited to 25 innings per month. I had heard of pitch count per game and total innings count per season before but not inning count per month. I see where it makes sense as that gives him about 150 innings per year. Maybe innings are easier to monitor or have a better psychological effect than pitch counts? What happens if he has some 25+ pitch innings? I am sure his innings that game would be limited. So why not just have a pitch count per month? Maybe just to emphasize outs to a pitcher? That’s all I can come up with.

by acr on May 24, 2008 10:36 PM EDT reply actions