Clayton Kershaw - Pitching Style

Pitching Style

Kershaw pitching style is unique in that he has a high leg kick. The leg kick helps him generate power off his four-seam fastball and adds a dimension of deception on batters. Out of the stretch, he uses a slide step as it makes it difficult for the base runner at first base to get a read on him. he also keeps the ball hidden well. He never gives the batter a clean look at the ball until one or two frames before the release, which makes his release point much tougher to pick up. He has stated many times that he has modeled his pitching mechanics after his favorite pitcher growing up, Roger Clemens.

Despite pitching only four full seasons, Clayton has developed a reputation of being a 2nd half pitcher. For his career he has a 3.12 ERA pre All-Star break compared to a 2.42 ERA post All-Star break. His 2009 2nd half ERA was 2.27 and 2.84 in 2010. In 2011, he had a historically rare 2nd half. Since 1969, only three pitchers had a second-half ERA as good as Kershaw’s 2011 1.31 ERA, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Those pitchers were Roger Clemens (0.97 in 1990), Tom Seaver (1.10 in 1971) and Johan Santana (1.21 in 2004). In the 2nd half of the 2012 season, he went 8-4 with a 2.10 ERA in 15 starts and had a 1.55 ERA in his last 12 starts.

Kershaw pitch repertoire includes a four-seam fastball that sits anywhere from 92–95 mph (tops out at 98 mph) with late movement, a slider at 84-87 mph, a 12–6 curveball between 72-76 mph, and a seldom thrown circle changeup. He's a strikeout pitcher, having a career average of over one strikeout for every inning pitched. He is also known for having one of the better pickoff moves to first base and is considered one of the better fielding pitchers in the game. When he's on his game, Kershaw allows very few base runners, strikes out batters at a high rate, records outs mostly by infield pop-ups or ground balls, and fields his position exceptionally well. A testament to this was in 2011, where Kershaw led the National League in WHIP and strikeouts, while also winning the Rawlings Gold Glove Award.

After a spring training game in 2012, newly acquired Dodgers catcher Matt Treanor discussed Kershaw's pitching style:

"He's a different type of competitor. He doesn't need anyone out there telling him what to do, so I try to limit how much I try to get him to do something. As far as his stuff is concerned, I don't think I've caught anybody like him. He's got that pause, he mixes up his moves, he fields his position really well, he locates well. He does everything above average. You'd think he's been around longer, but he's only 24."