Koufax-Kershaw Comparison

                 KERSHAW
                       VS
                  KOUFAX







Clayton Kershaw is just 24 years old and has already impressed a lot of people around baseball including myself. He has 3 consecutive seasons of a sub 3 ERA, but it was 2011 with a 2.28 ERA and 248 strikeouts that made him separable from other starters. Some believe Kershaw may be the next Sandy Koufax.


Koufax hit his prime much later than Kershaw. When Koufax was 23 his ERA was 4.05, but Koufax would kick it into high gear at the age of 26 with a 2.54 ERA and would never post an ERA lower than that. Kershaw and Koufax also have extremely similar strikeout per nine inning rates.

Koufax obviously pitched in an era that was pitching dominant and the MLB is slowing shifting back to pitching dominance, but to this day Koufax is still one of the best pitchers ever. Kershaw has a lot of promise for his future and even Sandy Koufax says he likes the way he pitches.

Graphs courtesy of fangraphs.com