LOS ANGELES — Clayton Kershaw’s name is already etched in several spots of the Dodgers record book. On Saturday, he’ll add another milestone by playing in his 18th season with the team.
He already held the longest franchise tenure by a pitcher, but this start against the Angels will tie Kershaw with outfielder Zack Wheat and shortstop Bill Russell for the most seasons with the team by anyone. After missing time in the second half of 2023 with a shoulder injury that required offseason surgery, and after only seven starts in 2024 between rehabbing from surgery then injuring his left big toe, Kershaw is just happy to be on a major league mound again.
But he doesn’t want to only be a placeholder.
“It’s time to get going again and compete. I just want to be a contributing part to this team, so I’m excited to be able to do that. It’s been a long time. It’s been a long time,” Kershaw said Thursday. “I don’t take it for granted anymore to get to go out there and be able to pitch at Dodger Stadium. Saturday will — it will be fun if we win but regardless, it will be exciting to get back out there.”
Kershaw in five minor league rehab starts had a 2.57 ERA with 16 strikeouts and five walks in 21 innings. He topped out at 89 mph on his fastball in the three starts in Triple-A — the ones with publicly-available game data — but also got 38 swings on his 51 sliders in those games and 15 swinging strikes on the pitch for a 39.5-percent whiff rate.
Most importantly, Kershaw says he feels healthy after surgeries on his left toe and knee last November.
“When you stop worrying about feeling bad, and you start worrying about performance, that’s when you know you’ve turned the corner,” Kershaw said. “Those last few rehab starts I was more concerned about throwing well and getting guys out than I was how my foot felt or anything like that. That was a good sign for me physically.
“Now it’s just a process of figuring out how to get guys out consistently and perform. That’s a much better place to be than seeing if you’re hurt or not.”
The Dodgers do need Kershaw to perform, as their rotation has several missing pieces.
Roki Sasaki was placed on the injured list this week, with no real timetable for his return. Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell have thrown in some capacity over the last week, but neither are particularly close to a major league mound. All three are dealing with shoulder injuries.
Shohei Ohtani’s return to pitching has been so methodical that it’s hard to even imagine him on a major league mound until after the All-Star break.
The Dodgers are in the middle of a busy schedule with few off days, which stretches for nearly four more weeks, with limited rotation options. Kershaw isn’t a luxury item, the franchise icon hanging on as an extra. The Dodgers will look to him for some rotation stability.
That begins on Saturday night, for Kershaw’s 430th career major league start. Judging by the smiles on his face this week, he plans to enjoy it. Because pitching is what he does.
“When you haven’t done something in a long time, you realize you miss it. You miss being a part of a team and contributing. There’s a lot of gratitude and gratefulness in getting back to that point. I definitely feel that,” Kershaw said. “Now if I go out there and don’t pitch good it’s going to go away real fast. There’s a performance aspect of it, too. But I think for now, being on the other side of it, just super excited and grateful to go back out there again.”
Saturday game info
- Teams: Dodgers vs. Angels
- Stadium: Dodger Stadium
- Start time: 6:10 p.m.
- TV: SportsNet LA, FanDuel Sports Network West (Angels broadcast), MLB Network (out of market)
- Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)
