Clayton Kershaw's 3,000 strikeouts by the numbers: Dodgers lefty stands alone

Clayton Kershaw did it in grand style, because of course he did. For much of Wednesday night's start against the Chicago White Sox, it looked like the Los Angeles Dodgers lefty wouldn't get the three Ks he needed to become the 20th pitcher to join the 3,000-strikeout club. He gave up four runs through his first five innings while recording just two punchouts, and an elevated pitch count had Dodger fans looking ahead to when his next outing might be.

But manager Dave Roberts gave him one more inning, and he made the most of it. Facing Vinny Capra with two outs and knowing that it would be his last batter, Kershaw came through, freezing him on a backdoor slider and calmly walking off the mound and into history.

Of course, we shouldn't really be surprised at this point. Kershaw isn't just the best pitcher of his generation; he's one of the handful of people who have a claim to being one of the best pitchers of all-time. Don't believe us? Take a look at how his numbers stack up even among the other members of the 3,000 club.

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Clayton Kershaw's 3,000 strikeouts by the numbers

How does he stack up with the rest of the 3,000-K club?

In short: pretty well. Kershaw became just the fourth lefty to ever reach 3,000 strikeouts, joining Steve Carlton, Randy Johnson and CC Sabathia in one of baseball's most exclusive clubs. But this isn't just a matter of longevity: Even among the greatest pitchers in baseball history, Kershaw stands out as particularly dominant on a pitch-by-pitch basis. He has the second-lowest ERA of any of the 20 pitches in the 3,000-K club, behind only Walter Johnson, who pitched in the dead-ball era.

Lowest ERA:
• Walter Johnson: 2.17
• Clayton Kershaw: 2.51
• Tom Seaver: 2.86
• Bob Gibson: 2.91
• Pedro Martinez 2.03

And his strikeouts per innings pitched ranks fourth all-time, behind Randy Johnson (arguably the greatest inning-for-inning strikeout artist the game has ever seen), Max Scherzer and Pedro Martinez.

Highest K/IP:
• Randy Johnson: 1.18
• Max Scherzer: 1.18
• Pedro Martinez: 1.12
• Clayton Kershaw 1.07
• Nolan Ryan: 1.06

The fact that he was able to combine such ruthless precision and efficiency with such dominance gets at just how great Kershaw has been, and for how long he's been able to sustain it.

Who has he struck out the most?

As you might imagine, the NL West has really seen about enough of Kershaw at this point. And it drives home just how good Kershaw has been that the players he's had the most strikeout success against are all notable names. There's some confirmation bias there, to be sure: Good hitters are more likely to play for longer and rack up more at-bats. But Kershaw held each of the five players on the below list to a sub-.700 OPS lifetime.

Which teams does he have the most strikeouts against?

Of course, it's no surprise that the four teams he shared a division with top this list. It is maybe something of a surprise to see the St. Louis Cardinals in fifth, although they do have some bragging rights against the lefty in the postseason.

Kershaw has recorded at least one K against 27 of a possible 30 teams. The Dodgers are one of the three exceptions, obviously. But the two others? The Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles, neither of whom he's faced before in his career.

Which pitcher was the fastest to reach 3,000 strikeouts?

Again: While durability and longevity are required to reach the 3,000-strikeout plateau, this is far from an accumulation award. Kershaw got to this mark faster than almost anyone else before him. In fact, the only pitchers who reached strikeout No. 3,000 faster are Randy Johnson and Pedro.

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