Whatever room the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw may have set aside in his home to accommodate all the trophies and other assorted awards he has accumulated over the past four seasons is almost certainly due for an upgrade.
A singular massive “trophy room” – not unlike big-game hunters of yore built in their mansions to stock with stuffed grizzly bears, lions and tigers and the mounted heads of elephants and rhinos – just might fit the bill.
Kershaw, the Dodgers’ overpowering, 6-foot-3, 225-pound left-hander who played in a pair of Perfect Game WWBA tournaments as a top Texas prospect in 2004 and 2005, on Wednesday night was awarded the 2014 National League Cy Young Award in a unanimous vote by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA).
It was Kershaw’s third Cy Young Award in four years to go with those he won in 2011 and 2013; he finished second in the balloting in 2012.
Cleveland Indians right-hander Corey Kluber – another big, strong former Texas high school prospect and Perfect Game alumnus – won his first American League Cy Young Award in only his second full season as a starter for Indians manager Terry Francona.
THE 26-YEAR-OLD KERSHAW HAS BEEN THE BEST PITCHER IN BASEBALL over the past four seasons as his four straight NL ERA and WHIP titles attest, and this season he was at his absolute best. He finished 21-3 in 27 starts with a 1.77 ERA and 0.857 WHIP, and 239 strikeouts and 31 walks in 198 1/3 innings.
One of his league-high six complete games was a 15-strikeout no-hitter against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium on June 18.
“It’s just a huge honor,” Kershaw told MLB.com’s Doug Miller after learning he had won the award. “I think to be associated with the guys that won the Cy Young Award, and really getting to have my name put with some of those guys, is unbelievable.
“… I love to win. Winning’s fun. So that’s really my goal every time out. I love to play baseball. I have so much fun getting to pitch, and as long as you’re winning they’ll let me keep going out there, so that’s good.”
His season was so remarkable that he is also considered the favorite to win the NL Most Valuable Player Award, which will be announced Thursday night. And if he takes home the MVP hardware, it will only add to the treasure trove he has already accumulated this fall.
The Players Choice Awards were announced in early November, and in voting by the Major League Baseball Players Association, Kershaw won the 2014 Player of the Year Award, the Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award and was named the National League Outstanding Pitcher. He became the first player to win three Players Choice Awards in the same year.
“You never think you’d win any awards growing up, so to win an award like this that recognizes you as a player, not just a pitcher … it’s amazing, really,” Kershaw to Lyle Spencer from MLB.com when asked about the Player of the Year Award. “I think more than anything, coming from the players, to have their respect, this is awesome. I can’t take it lightly.”
Kershaw played at the 2004 PG WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, Fla., with the Dallas Tigers and at the 2005 PG WWBA 18u National Championship in Marietta, Ga., with DBAT 16u. That 2004 PG WWBA World Championship was a particularly star-studded event with top prospects and current MLB All-Stars Andrew McCutchen, Buster Posey, Justin Upton, Pedro Alvarez and Jay Bruce joining Kershaw.
The Dodgers selected Kershaw with the seventh overall pick of the first round in the 2006 MLB amateur draft out of Highland Park (Texas) High School. While growing up in the Dallas suburb, he became a good friend and youth baseball, football, basketball and soccer teammate of Matthew Stafford, now the starting quarterback for the NFL’s Detroit Lions.
Kershaw and Stafford played freshman football and two years of varsity baseball together at Highland Park HS before graduating in 2006; the Lions made Stafford the No. 1 overall pick in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft out of the University of Georgia.
According to published reports, the two childhood friends and teammates, and members of the same graduating class at the same Texas high school today have signed professional contracts worth a combined $291.5 million.
Cincinnati Reds right-hander Johnny Cueto and St. Louis Cardinals righty Adam Wainwright – both 20-9 this past season – finished second and third, respectively, in the NL Cy Young Award balloting.
THE INDIANS’ KLUBER, A 28-YEAR-OLD LISTED AT 6-FOOT-4, 215 POUNDS, won 11 games in his first full season as a starter for the Indians in 2013. He topped that big-time season, finishing 18-9 with a 2.44 ERA while tying Hernandez with an AL-high 34 starts. In 235 2/3 innings of work, he allowed 207 hits while striking out 269 and walking 51.
He was especially impressive in the second half of the season, posting a 1.73 ERA in 104 innings pitched, with 127 strikeouts.
“I’m definitely surprised,” Kluber told MLB.com. “It’s just a credit to all the hard work … I’ve put in through the past. There are a lot of people who have helped me along the way so a lot of things have to come together at the right time.”
A 2004 graduate of Coppell (Texas) High School, Kluber was at both the 2002 and 2003 PG WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, Fla., pitching for the Dallas Tigers a year before Kershaw; he also attended the 2003 South Top Prospect Showcase in Waco, Texas. He was a fourth-round pick of the San Diego Padres in the 2007 MLB amateur draft out of Stetson University.
Seattle Mariners five-time all-star ace right-hander Felix Hernandez finished second to Kluber in the AL balloting, followed by Chicago White Sox left-hander Chris Sale. Hernandez was the 2010 AL Cy Young Award winner.
The 28-year-old Hernandez, a Seattle fan-favorite who wears his nick-name “King Felix” like a badge of honor, finished 15-6 with AL-bests of 34 starts, 2.14 ERA, 0.915 WHIP and 6.5 hits per nine innings, and struck out 248 in 236 innings. He was second in CYA balloting in 2009 and fourth in 2012.
The 6-foot-6, 180-pound, 25-year-old Sale, has pitched lights-out in his first three seasons as a White Sox starter, going 40-26 in 85 starts. He missed as many as six starts with an injury early this season but rallied to finish 12-4 with a 2.17 ERA and a 0.966 WHIP over 26 starts. He struck out 208 batters in 174 innings and his average of 10.9 strikeouts per nine innings was tops in the AL.
Sale attended four Perfect Game events while growing up in Florida, including the 2006 PG WWBA 17u National Championship and the 2006 PG WWBA 18u National Championship with the Orlando Scorpions.
He was a 21st round draft pick of the Colorado Rockies out of Lakeland (Fla.) High School in 2007 before the White Sox took him with 13th overall pick of the first round in the 2010 amateur draft out of Florida Gulf Coast University.