NL Pitcher: Clayton Kershaw, SP, Los Angeles Dodgers
Much like the Player of the Week, the National League was a much more difficult choice. I had to choose between who was best in run prevention, and who was best in the fielding-independent numbers such as strikeouts and walks. I ended up going with the latter, and in turn, Clayton Kershaw.
It isn’t a very exciting pick, seeing as Kershaw is the best in the league, and will probably be the pitcher of the week 90% of the time. But I think he earned it, and shouldn’t be penalized for being consistently great.
In his two starts, Kershaw threw a league-leading 17 innings, giving up 4 runs on 8 hits, 2 walks, and 21 strikeouts. That’s a 2.12 ERA and a 10.50 K/BB ratio. The reason I say I chose strikeouts and walks over runs is that both Lance Lynn and Wade Miley had ERA’s under 1.00 for the week. But Lynn didn’t have near as many strikeouts (7.62 K/9) or as few walks (2.08 BB/9) as Kershaw, and in short samples like this, those are more indicative of a pitchers performance than numbers that rely on luck, and the performance of the defense behind the pitcher.
This one was extremely close, and I went back and forth between him and Lynn before ultimately choosing Kershaw. Ulitmately, it is extremely debatable, and Lynn was equally as deserving.