In late July, Clayton Kershaw was back to the mound. He underwent shoulder surgery and after a long recovery process, he’s back. So far this season, he made 7 starts for the Dodgers, posting a 4.50 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP over 30 innings. Additionally, he has 24 strikeouts thus far.
Among those 24 strikeouts, 16 strikeouts happened at Dodger stadium. So far in his career, Kershaw already threw 1614 strikeouts at Dodger stadium. Of course, he’s the leader in strikeouts at this ballpark. However, in these several years, who are other Dodgers pitchers in the top 5 on the leaderboard in strikeouts at this ballpark?
To understand a little bit more, I decided to check on the statcast website.
Statcast website provides data 2008 onwards. And Kershaw made his MLB debut in 2008. To date, Kershaw has 1614 strikeouts at this ballpark.
Kenley Jansen made his MLB debut in 2010 and had played for the Dodgers for 12 seasons. He has collected 447 saves so far in his career. Thus far, he has 1220 strikeouts in his career. Among those 1220 strikeouts, 547 strikeouts happened at Dodger stadium when Jansen was in the Dodgers uniform.
In addition, Chad Billingsley pitched for the Dodgers from 2006 to 2013 and he pitched for the Phillies in 2015. He used to be a reliable starter in the Dodgers rotation. Nonetheless, injuries limited his career. Billingsley threw 1052 strikeouts in his career and from 2008 to 2013 there were 433 times that he struck a batter at Dodger stadium while he was with the Dodgers.
Moreover, Walker Buehler made his MLB debut in 2017. He didn’t pitch in 2023 because of recovering from his second Tommy John surgery. Buehler is a 2-time All-Star and has 744 strikeouts thus far in his career. And he has struck out 400+ times at Dodger stadium.
Furthermore, Hyun-Jin Ryu played for the Dodgers from 2013 to 2019 and he played for the Blue Jays from 2020 to 2023. Ryu struck out 934 batters in 10 seasons in the majors and 360 strikeouts happened at Dodger stadium.
Well, you might say that it’s not ideal to use the data from 2008 to 2024 because it covers the whole career of Kershaw. Hence, let’s take a look at the number so far in this decade.
So, from 2020 to 2024, in the Dodgers, the strikeout leader at this ballpark is still Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw has struck out 260 hitters at Dodger stadium so far this decade. Julio Urias was a top pitcher in the majors. However, due to some personal issues, the last time that he pitched in the majors was in 2023. Urias threw 710 strikeouts from 2016 to 2023. From 2020 to 2023, he threw 255 strikeouts at Dodger stadium. Meanwhile, Walker Buehler has 216 strikeouts at this ballpark so far this decade. Tony Gonsolin is currently on the IL and hasn’t pitched any games in the majors this season. He has 167 strikeouts at this ballpark from 2020 to 2023. Furthermore, Alex Vesia made his MLB debut in 2020. So far in his career, he has 282 strikeouts and 144 of those strikeouts happened at Dodger stadium.
Kershaw certainly has a great career and watching him fan batters at Dodger stadium has been very common. He’s now on the IL and it’s unknown when he will be coming back. But his strikeout record at Dodger stadium could be one of the hardest records to reach for any other pitchers. And let’s see if he will be back to the mound before the season ends.
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