Tag: Strikeouts

Pitchers best friend

Aaron Judge Breaks Strikeout Record and Weaver Retires

On August 16, New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge broke the Major League record for most consecutive games with a strikeout. He struck out in his 33rd consecutive game. On the season, Judge has 159 strikeouts. Jered Weaver called it quits as well. He finished his 12 year career with the Padres, but spent his first 11 seasons with the Los Angeles Angels.

Steal Facts: Clayton Kershaw

      Clayton Kershaw

  • Clayton Edward Kershaw is a pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Kershaw wears number 22. He stands at a solid 6 foot 3 with 225 pounds of muscle.
  • Kershaw showed signs of greatness in 2010 when he posted a 2.92 earned run average and struck out 212 batters in 204.1 innings of work.
  • In 2011, Kershaw completed a lot of milestones. That year, he won the National League pitching Triple Crown award. He led the NL in strikeouts with 248, wins with 21, and earned run average (ERA) with 2.28. He won the Cy Young award and the Gold Glove award for pitchers.
  • Kershaw won the Cy Young award again in 2013. He led the league in ERA with an outstanding 1.83 mark. He also won 16 games with 232 strikeouts.
  • 2014 was arguably Kershaw’s best year. Despite coming in late to the season, he still posted great numbers. In 198.1 innings, Clayton retired 239 batters via the strikeout, won 21 games, and posted a career best 1.77 ERA. He won the Cy Young and the Most Valuable Player award for the National League.
  • In Clayton Kershaw’s first 260 Major League appearances, he has picked up 125 wins while only losing 58 games. He led the league in ERA from 2011- 2014 and has picked up three Cy Young awards and an MVP.

Clayton Kershaw

Clayton Kershaw is one of the most dominant pitchers of his era. If he is not leading in one pitching category, then he is leading another. We will now break down the legacy of Clayton Edward Kershaw.

Clayton Kershaw is a star pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was born in Dallas, Texas, in 1988. Clayton was drafted by the Dodgers in the first round of the 2006 first year player draft. He wears number 22 and stands at an intimidating 6 foot 3 inches and weighing in at 225 pounds. Kershaw has piled up tons of awards and accomplishments in his career. In 2010, Kershaw began giving signs that he was going to be something special. In 204.1 innings, he was able to strike out 212 batters and post a 2.91 earned run average. 2011 was the start of the Kershaw dynasty. In 2011, Clayton Kershaw picked up his first Cy Young award. In 233.1 innings of work, Kershaw struck out a league leading 248 hitters and tied the league lead for wins with 21. He also posted an amazing 2.28 ERA. He carried his success into the 2012 season. 2012 saw Kershaw strike out 229 and a 2.53 ERA.  2013 and 2014 were Kershaw’s best seasons. He won the Cy Young award in both seasons. In 2013, he posted a 1.83 ERA and in 2014, he posted a league leading 1.77. In 2014, Kershaw won the National League Most Valuable Player award because he won 21 games, pitched a no-hitter, and struck out 239 batters in 198.1 innings of work.  In 2015, Kershaw’s bar was set extremely high. He had to fight for his fame due to the dominance of Jake Arrieta and teammate Zack Greinke. Kershaw did just that. He struck out 301 batters in 232.2 while posting a 2.13 ERA. He finished third in the Cy Young voting.

In Kershaw short career, he has been awarded a multitude of honors. From 2011 to 2014, he led the league in ERA. He has won three Cy Young awards, been on the All Star team from 2011-2015, won the Gold Glove award in 2011, and was declared the National Most Valuable Player in 2014. As one can see, Clayton Kershaw is one of the best players in Major League Baseball.

Offensive Stat

Trevor Story started off 2016 historically. All those amazing home runs… and strikeouts. We don’t want to bash him, but you can’t talk about Trevor Story without mentioning strikeouts. As of June 18, 2016, Trevor was fanned 96 times! At this pace, Story is on track to strike out a record 273 times! Some sluggers need to learn to cut back!

Catching Success

          Catching Success

  An article about the toughest position on the baseball diamond

Out of all the positions on the baseball diamond, the catcher position is the hardest. They have to crouch behind the plate all day, get baseballs thrown at them to speeds up to 100 mph, taking foul balls of their hand, hit in the head with back swings, and to get an occasional collision while still coming up to bat 4 to 5 times a game. How do they do it? Take a look at Yadier Molina. He has one of the best arms for throwing at base runners. He can even throw out the base stealers even when his knees are on the ground. He snaps his wrist to get the runner out. Like other catchers, Yadier not only has to be prepared for base stealers but also for wild pitches. He is so good at his job that in 2014 he won the National League Platinum Glove for the best defensive player at any position. Through all this, Yadier Molina still comes through in the clutch for St. Louis Cardinals many times.

Buster Posey is another example of a great catcher. Buster is more on the offensive side than the defensive side. In 2012, Buster Posey won the National League Most Valuable Player award. That year, he batted a league leading .336 average, hit 24 home runs, and drove in 103 RBIs. Buster also won the 2010 Rookie of the Year award and multiple Silver Sluggers. Buster has helped the San Francisco Giants with his defensive skills, too. In 2013, Posey caught a no-hitter by Tim Lincecum against the San Diego Padres. Two years later, he caught Chris Heston’s no-hitter against the New York Mets. On top of that, he has caught 3 World Series titles in 5 years. A part of this is because he and Madison Bumgarner are a key battery pair.

Brian McCann of the New York Yankees is a good example of an all-around catcher. He handles the pitching staff well and he makes them feel comfortable so they can pitch good games. He throws out the average amount of base stealers and has tremendous power. Brian has more than 200 home runs although playing the roughest position on the baseball diamond. A specialty of Brian is his ability to block the split finger fastball. With Masahiro Tanaka and Nathan Evoaldi, he has to that a lot.