Minor League Career
Kershaw continued to show dominance with the Gulf Coast League Dodgers. He pitched in 37 innings in which he struck out 54 batters (walking only 5), while compiling a record of 2–0 with a 1.95 ERA. He featured a 93–94 mph fastball (topping out at 96 mph). He was rated as the No.1 prospect in the GCL, and the Dodgers' No. 2 prospect by Baseball America behind third basemen Andy LaRoche.
In two starts in 2006, he fanned 21 batters in 11 innings from July 29-August 3.
Kershaw entered the 2007 season as the top prospect in the Dodgers' system, according to Baseball America. That year, for the Great Lakes Loons, Kershaw recorded a record of 7–5 with a 2.77 earned run average and was selected to play on the East Team in the Midwest League All Star Game. He also was selected to appear in the All-Star Futures Game for the USA Team. On August 6, he was promoted to the Double-A Jacksonville Suns in the Southern League, where he produced a 1–2 record and 3.65 ERA in 5 starts.
During spring training in a game against the Boston Red Sox, Kershaw gained much attention for throwing a remarkable 1:7 curveball to Sean Casey that started behind Casey but at the end looped into the strike zone and struck him out looking, which announcer Vin Scully dubbed "Public Enemy No. 1." Kershaw was 0–3 and had a 2.28 ERA with 47 strikeouts through 43.1 innings pitched in his first stint of the year with the Jacksonville Suns. He was then called up to the majors, but optioned back to Jacksonville on July 2, 2008.
Kershaw pitched 18 innings during his second trip to Jacksonville (two starts and one 7-inning relief appearance), winning two games. During this stretch, he allowed only 2 runs earned runs, lowering his ERA to 1.91. He was recalled on July 22.
Read more about this topic: Clayton Kershaw
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