His 2024 season hardly got off the ground before it was over. Clayton Kershaw wasn’t prepared to go out that way. The future surefire Hall of famer says he’s coming back for another season.
The 10 time all star had off season shoulder surgery that kept him rehabbing until July 25th. However, it wasn’t the injury that ended his season:
“My shoulder and elbow, everything, my arm feels great.”
“I had some tough luck with my toe this year, “I don’t want to have surgery and then shut it down. So I’m going to come back next year and give it a go. See how it goes.”
Kershaw suffered with a bone spur in his left big toe. It limited him to seven starts, resulting in a 2-2 record and a 4.50 ERA.
When he finally did get on the mound he got knocked around twice. allowing 8 runs in six innings. His last three outings, however, had him looking like the Kershaw of old. He gave away only 2 runs over 16 2/3 innings in three starts. However, the pain became too much on August 6th.
There was nothing wrong with Kershaw’s pitching in 2023 in his age 35 season. On a scaled back schedule, he made 24 terrific starts. A 13-5 record, a 2.46 ERA and a 177 ERA Plus saw him become an all star once more.
It pushed him past the 200 win mark. His career record now sits at 212-94. He is the Dodgers all time strikeout leader, sitting just 32 K’s short of #3000.
Already signed for 2025
After waiting, he finally agreed to a new contract for 2024. It includes a deal for 2025. Kershaw gets a base salary of $5 million with incentives that could net him as much as $20 million more.
He certainly was baseball’s best pitcher in the 2010’s — going 156-61 with a brilliant 2.31 ERA and amazing 0.962 WHIP. He won three Cy Young awards and finished second twice, third, fifth and eighth. He also garnered the NL MVP in 2014.
While he has struggled at times in the post season, he pitched well in the 2020 Fall Classic, winning both of his starts while the Dodgers won the title for the first time since 1988.
