Top Draft Pick Kershaw Agrees to Terms

Clayton Kershaw is only 18 years old, so he won’t fill the soft spot in the starting rotation any time soon. But the Dodgers’ first-round draft pick has agreed to terms and will be introduced at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, along with supplemental first-round pick Preston Mattingly.

Kershaw, a left-handed pitcher from Highland Park High in University Park, Texas, will get a $2.3-million signing bonus spread over two years. He was the seventh player taken in the June 6 amateur draft and turned down a scholarship to Texas A&M; to begin his pro career.

The first time White watched the 6-foot-4 Kershaw pitch, he struck out all 15 batters he faced May 19. Kershaw was 12-0 with 139 strikeouts in 64 innings, throwing a fastball 96 mph and utilizing a hard slider.

San Diego Padres starter Chris Young attended Highland Park and once saw Kershaw pitch. “He’s tremendous,” Young said. “It was exciting to watch him, a lot of fun. He’s certainly better than I was in high school.”

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Among the myriad plays that could have affected the outcome of the Dodgers’ 17-inning loss Saturday night, none was dissected more than a flyout to left field by Andre Ethier with Jeff Kent attempting to steal second base in the eighth inning. When the ball settled into left fielder Nick Swisher’s glove, Kent didn’t attempt to return to first and was doubled up.

Kent had a huge jump against pitcher Chad Gaudin. Often if a batter recognizes that a runner has a base stolen easily, he won’t swing at the pitch. Ethier wouldn’t say whether he knew Kent was running.

“I don’t even remember the play,” he said. “It was irrelevant to the outcome of the game.”

Kent said that he didn’t try to return to first because by the time he realized the ball wasn’t going to fall for a hit, “I was a dead duck.”

“I was standing on second base when the ball was put in play,” he said. “I hesitated, thinking it might drop. I’m standing on the bag, I’m not running.”

Manager Grady Little would not second-guess Kent for not hustling back to first.

“It was just an act of frustration with the way the game was,” he said. “He who is without any foul-ups should start casting stones at Jeff Kent. He’s the perfect team player. He won’t do everything perfect his whole life, nor will any player we have.”

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Jae Seo, who walked three in the 17th inning Saturday and took the loss, was upset that several pitches were not called strikes by plate umpire Tom Hallion. Earlier in the game, Derek Lowe expressed displeasure with Hallion’s calls.

Asked whether such outbursts are counterproductive, Little said, “Very.”

“You look at the best pitchers in the game, they don’t show any emotion on the mound,” he said.

“The emotion might not all be directed at the umpire, but the umpire doesn’t know that.”

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Olmedo Saenz was nearing 30 and going nowhere in 1999 when the Oakland Athletics recognized the pop in his bat and found a spot on the roster for him. He proved a valuable pinch-hitter and role player as a rookie and hasn’t changed much since.

“They gave me the opportunity to play in the big leagues,” Saenz said. “We started with a lot of young, inexperienced guys and everything clicked.”

Saenz played in three playoff series with Oakland before becoming a free agent and signing with the Dodgers before the 2004 season.

“We learned how to win, and I learned my role and how to be a big league player,” he said. “It was pretty special.”