Dodgers Dugout: Clayton Kershaw joins the 3,000 strikeout club

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Shouldn’t Kellogg’s have commemorative boxes of Special K cereal with Clayton Kershaw on the front ready for sale in Los Angeles?

Yes, I know I said there wouldn’t be another newsletter until next week, but, Kershaw became the 20th pitcher in baseball history to strike out 3,000 batters when he reached that milestone during Wednesday’s game against the Chicago White Sox. It’s a testament to his longevity and the fact he pitched at an elite level for many years. Even now, when he is no longer the Kershaw of old, he is still one of the best starters the Dodgers have.

Here is a statistical look at his 3,000 strikeouts.

The 3,000 strikeouts club ranked by strikeouts per nine innings:

Max Scherzer, 10.64
Randy Johnson 10.61
Pedro Martinez, 10.04
Clayton Kershaw, 9.69
Nolan Ryan, 9.54
Justin Verlander, 8.97
Curt Schilling, 8.60
Roger Clemens, 8.55
John Smoltz, 7.99
CC Sabathia, 7.78
Bob Gibson, 7.22
Steve Carlton, 7.13
Tom Seaver, 6.85
Bert Blyleven, 6.70
Ferguson Jenkins, 6.38
Don Sutton, 6.09
Greg Maddux, 6.06
Gaylord Perry, 5.95
Phil Niekro, 5.57
Walter Johnson, 5.34

Batters Clayton Kershaw has struck out the most (does not include pitchers)

30 times
Brandon Belt (4 for 62 overall against Kershaw)

24 times
Paul Goldschmidt (15 for 67)

22 times
Carlos González (10 for 57)

20 times
Hunter Pence (18 for 91)

19 times
Buster Posey (25 for 113)
Drew Stubbs (6 for 39)

17 times
Troy Tulowitzki (18 for 66)
Ian Desmond (8 for 48)
Justin Upton (7 for 47)

Batters Kershaw has trouble striking out (minimum 20 at bats)

struck out 0 times
Orlando Hudson, (6 for 21 overall against Kershaw)

one time
Daniel Murphy (5 for 20)
Marco Scutaro (9 for 26)

three times
Miguel Tejada (7 for 20)
Allen Craig (6 for 22)
Joe Panik (11 for 41)

four times
Randal Grichuk (5 for 20)
Jordan Pacheco (3 for 23)
Pat Burrell (6 for 20)
Anthony Rendon (7 for 22)
Carlos Gomez (7 for 24)
Jonathan Lucroy (1 for 24)
Chris Young (7 for 29)
Jimmy Rollins (7 for 31)
Ryan Zimmerman (10 for 33)

The count
1-2, 1,053 times
2-2, 822
0-2, 719
3-2, 406

Outs
2, 1,006
0, 1,004
1, 990

Inning
1: 463
2: 504
3: 450
4: 439
5: 444
6: 344
7: 232
8: 93
9: 31

Game totals
15 strikeout games: 2
14: 4
13: 9
12: 8
11: 18
10: 27
9: 53
8: 48
7: 63
6: 61
5: 59
4: 40
3: 23
2: 18
1: 5

Milestone strikeouts

First strikeout
May 25, 2008
Skip Schumaker, St. Louis

100th strikeout
Sept. 29, 2008
Kevin Kouzmanoff, San Diego

500th strikeout
March 31, 2011
Buster Posey, San Francisco

1,000th strikeout
April 17, 2013
Yonder Alonso, San Diego

1,500th strikeout
May 10, 2015
Drew Stubbs, Colorado

2,000th strikeout
June 2, 2017
Jonathan Villar, Milwaukee

2,500th strikeout
Sept. 3, 2020
Nick Ahmed, Arizona

3,000th strikeout
July 2, 2025
Vinny Capra, Chicago White Sox

By month:
March: 23
April: 454
May: 496
June: 577
July: 432
August: 490
September: 489
October: 39

By catcher
A.J. Ellis, 920
Austin Barnes, 551
Yasmani Grandal, 451
Russell Martin, 379
Will Smith, 251
Rod Barajas, 171
Dioner Navarro, 106
Brad Ausmus, 55
Drew Butera, 45
Tim Federowicz, 22
Danny Ardoin, 19
Rámon Hernández, 17
Matt Treamor, 11
Dalton Rushing, 2

His decisions
In his wins: 1,672
no decision: 752
in his losses: 576

His role
As a starter: 2,995
As a reliever: 5

Pitch count
Pitch 1-25: 700
Pitch 26-50: 815
Pitch 51-75: 760
Pitch 76-100: 579
Pitch 101+: 146

Batter
Right-handed: 2,265
Left-handed: 735

Where?
Home: 1,630
Away: 1,370

Opponent
San Francisco, 413
Colorado, 321
San Diego, 317
Arizona, 294
St. Louis, 158
Washington, 139
NY Mets, 126
Milwaukee, 124
Chicago Cubs, 121
Philadelphia, 118
Cincinnati, 116
Miami, 116
Angels, 115
Atlanta, 98
Pittsburgh, 79
Houston, 59
Seattle, 42
NY Yankees, 36
Chicago White Sox, 34
Oakland, 31
Tampa Bay, 27
Kansas City, 21
Minnesota, 20
Cleveland, 20
Detroit, 20
Texas, 19
Toronto, 16

Note: Kershaw has never faced Baltimore or Boston in the regular season.

Number of pitches
4: 897
5: 773
3: 608
6: 443
7: 161
8: 85
9: 21
10+: 12

By batters’ defensive position
First base, 361
Left field, 357
Right field, 347
Center field, 341
Third base, 310
Catcher, 295
Pitcher, 285
Second base, 286
Shortstop, 274
Designated hitter, 78
Pinch hitter, 66

Bases occupied
Bases empty, 1,947
Man on first, 429
Man on second, 249
Men on first and second, 146
Man on third, 70
Men on first and third, 67
Men on second and third, 50
Bases loaded, 42

Batting order position
9th, 422
1st, 350
5th, 348
6th, 325
4th, 324
2nd, 321
7th, 315
3rd, 306
8th, 289

By score margin
Dodgers lead by four or more, 385
Dodgers lead by three, 207
Dodgers lead by two, 306
Dodgers lead by one, 461
Tied, 1,014
Dodgers trail by one, 338
Dodgers trail by two, 188
Dodgers trail by three, 66
Dodgers trail by four or more, 35

Swinging or looking?
Swinging strikeout, 2,225
Caught looking, 775

Eight runners reached first after a strikeout because of wild pitch or passed ball

Source: baseball-reference.com

In case you missed it

Plaschke: There are 3,000 reasons Clayton Kershaw is the greatest pitcher in Dodger history

Photos: Kershaw’s road to 3,000

Fans react to Clayton Kershaw reaching 3,000 career strikeouts

Clayton Kershaw reaches 3,000 career strikeouts, is 20th pitcher to do so in MLB history

And finally

Clayton Kershaw gets his 3,000th strikeout. Watch and listen here.

Until next time...

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latimeshouston. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.