TOP 10 Greatest Athletes of the 21th Century

The Greatness of Clayton Kershaw

Everybody knows that Clayton Kershaw has been the best pitcher in baseball for the past 6 years, but what some people doesn't realize is how great he has been in those 6 seasons, he has been an All Time great caliber pitcher in fact nobody have pitched better first 10 seasons of a career than Kershaw. Here are some of the accomplishment and All time greats that Kershaw have outperformed in his first 10 seasons in MLB:

Kershaw 2.34 ERA  is the best by a Starting Pitcher in the live ball era (since 1921), he also has the best FIP in the live ball era 2.58 , the best WHIP in the live ball ERA 0.9977 and 2nd best of all time only behind Hall of Fame Pitcher Addie Joss who pitched in the Dead Ball ERA (1902-1910), Kershaw 162 ERA+ ranked him first of all time but it doesn't stops there he has the 3th lowest Batting Average Against (.201) by a Starting Pitcher in history of baseball only behind Hall of Famer and one of the best pitchers of all time Nolan Ryan and Indians Pitcher Herb Score, Kershaw 9.9 K/9 ranked 7th on the All time list by Starting Pitcher with minimum 1,000 IP only behind Hall of Famers Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez and All Star Pitchers Max Scherzer, Chris Sale, Stephen Strasburg and Kerry Wood Kershaw is ranked 4th All time for pitchers with minimum 1,500 IP only behind a pair of Hall of Famers Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez.

At the Age of 29 only 3 pitchers have a lower WHIP than Kershaw 0.99 those 3 are Hall of famers and All Time Greats Walter Johnson, Ed Walsh and Addie Joss, Kershaw (.201) Batting Average Against ranked him second through 29 years old season by a Starting Pitcher in history of baseball only behind one of the greatest and most dominant pitchers in history of baseball Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan (.193) only 16 pitchers had a lower ERA than Kershaw 2.34 none of those were live ball era pitchers and most of them were Hall of Famers, only 2 pitchers had a better LOB% than Kershaw's 78.3% both were Hall of Famers (Seaver and Palmer) only 1 pitcher had a better K/9 proportion min 1,500  IP than Kershaw 9.9 and that was Hall of Fame Pitcher Pedro Martinez, only 4 pitchers had more Strikeouts through Age 29 Season than Kershaw Hall of famers(Walter Johnson, Bert Blyleven) and (Felix Hernandez, Sam McDowell).

Kershaw records and historic performance have earned him a lot of Awards and that is were Kershaw have done more history, He is one of only two pitchers to won the Cy Young Award, MVP and the Gold Glove Award the other one is you guessed another All time great and Hall of famer Bob Gibson, Kershaw have done something no pitcher have done in the entire history of baseball he is the only pitcher to win the Cy Young Award, the Pitching Triple Crown and Gold Glove Award in the Same Season also he is one of only three pitchers to win the MVP, the Cy Young and throw a Perfect Game or a No Hitter in the same season the other 2 pitchers are fellow Dodger all time great and Hall of Fame Left Handed Pitcher Sandy Koufax and future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander but it doesn't stops there Kershaw is the Youngest Pitcher to win 3 Cy Young Awards in history of Baseball at the age of 25, he is also the youngest left handed pitcher to win 2 Cy Young Awards and finally if Kershaw win the Silver Slugger he could be the first pitcher to win more than 6 different awards, he has already won the Cy Young, MVP, Gold Glove, Warren Spahn Award, Roberto Clemente Award and the Triple Crown.

Finally this is what shows me how great Kershaw has been with only 29 years old he is ranked 188th in the All time WAR leaders list ahead of 87 Hall of Famers including the likes of Jim Bunning, Mike Piazza, Whitey Ford, Mordecai Brown, Luis Aparicio and many others, he has the 5th best WAR for a pitcher through his Age 29 Season only behind 5 Hall of Famers Walter Johnson, Roger Clemens, Bert Blyleven, Kid Nichols and Christy Mathewson so you all now know how special, historic and dominant Clayton Kershaw has been he is definitely once in a generation Pitcher and definitely one player we have to be grateful that we are watching and witnessing him become the GREATEST PITCHER OF ALL TIME.

Thank you very much, I hope you liked my article and if you have any criticism or comments about the article please be free to comment in the section below or send me an email.