Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw Ranked Too Low on ESPN Top 100 Says MLB Experts
ESPN’s Top 100 MLB players of all-time has already created some intriguing conversations. As it was intended to do. The list was generated by a polling dozens of ESPN baseball editors and writers. Several Dodgers made the list, including Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw was listed 52nd.
ESPN’s de facto baseball historians, Tim Kurkjian and Buster Olney, strongly believe that Kershaw’s final ranking is muchtoo low.
On his Baseball Tonight podcast, Olney kept it short and sweet.
“Clayton Kershaw at 52. I saw that and said, ‘Uh-uh’. He’s a lot better than that.”
But in the video that accompanied the ESPN article, Olney provided a more long form defense of one of the Dodgers all-time greats.
“I cannot believe he’s that low. You’re talking about a guy when you look at BR adjuster era plus, among starting pitchers, he’s second all-time. You’re talking about a guy who’s won 3 Cy Young awards, three other seasons he finished in the top three, I’m surprised he’s as low as 52.”
Tim Kurkjian also thinks that Kershaw ranking isn’t representative of his performance in the context of the era he’s played in.
“I have him higher than 52 because during this era of when runs are scored, balls are flying out of the ballpark, and you look at what he’s done ERA-wise in this stage of his career, it’s essentially unprecedented. He’s too low, for sure, at 52.”
Kershaw’s production in his prime years (2010-2017) is mind boggling. The lefty led all pitchers in WAR (52.4), ERA (2.20), WHIP (0.95), and batting average against (.199).
What do you think Dodgers fans, is Kershaw ranked too low?
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Whenever I see a list or a comparison of players, I always like to go to a website called hallofstats.com it is a data base of every mlb player to ever play, then they rank those players based on a formula that uses WAR and WAA analytics. It takes the regional bias, politics, personalities etc out of the process. Their slogan is, “the HOF is not just about statistics, but what if it were?” So present day players like Kershaw and Pujols are not eligible for their list yet, but you can still enter their name in their search engine and come up with a rating and ranking. They give each player a numerical value and all players with over 100 points make their, “hall of stats”. That being said, Pujols’ present value is 210 points, which ranks him as the 31st best player ever (3rd best 1st baseman). Kershaw’s present value is 154 points, he is ranked as the 69th best player ever and the 23rd best pitcher ever. Other notables: D.Jeter 127 points, 123rd best player and the 15th best shortstop.(Jeter was pretty bad defensively) They rank Barry Larkin much higher than Jeter 144 pts and 10th best SS. Other former Dodger hurlers’ point totals: Pedro Martinez 187, Max Scherzer 143, Greinke 142, K Brown 137. Drysdale 115, Sutton 111, Koufax 102, (bad longevity, but still makes their hall) BTW: one former Dodger that I always feel gets under rated is Reggie Smith 126 pts and ranked as the 14th best RF’er of all time.
he’s a top 10 pitcher for sure, and probably top 25 of all players.