NOT DIGGING THE LONG BALL
Unhappy about serving up 18 home runs in the first half of the season, Kershaw tweaks his strategy on the mound
CHICAGO — Seven days removed from his final start of the first half, Clayton Kershaw climbed down a set of steps inside the visitors clubhouse at Marlins Park in Miami on Sunday morning. His destination was the dugout, not the mound. He wore a headband, not his Dodgers cap. He would wait until Tuesday to pitch again. “I’m bored,” he said, jokingly. “It’s been a while.” After an eventful first half, in which Kershaw gave up a career-high number of homers and still maintained his status among the game’s elites, the Dodgers afforded Kershaw nine days of rest, which included the All-Star break. He will take the ball against the Chicago White Sox in the midst of his finest stretch of pitching in 2017, having tweaked his strategy to stay ahead of hitters.
In the first half of the season, Kershaw won more games (14), threw more innings (132 1⁄3) and faced more batters (506) than any other pitcher. He ranked second in earned-run average (2.18), second in strikeout-towalk ratio (7.23) and second in walks and hits given up per inning pitched (0.88) among National League starters who qualified for the ERA title heading into Monday’s games. In his last four starts, he struck out 44 batters in 29 innings, collected four victories and posted a 0.67 ERA. He logged his first complete game of the season in the first-half finale against Kansas City.
“The thing that just makes him so special is his attitude, his intent to go out there and dominate,” manager Dave Roberts said. “That hasn’t changed.”
But Kershaw’s approach to facing hitters has, subtly, as he adapts to a sport-wide surge in power. Hitters are on pace to hit more home runs this season than ever. Kershaw got caught in that wave in the first half — “disproportionately so,” in the eyes of general manager Farhan Zaidi.
Before 2017, Kershaw had never given up more than 16 homers in a season. He has given up 18 in 19 starts.
He approached a nadir June 19. The New York Mets hit four home runs against him. Furious at his vulnerability, Kershaw kicked the
Nine years ago this week, Nick Franklin and Mike Trout competed to make the United States’ national team of 18-and-under ballplayers in trials in Phoenix. Both played the infield and pitched.
“Mike was really, really scrappy,” said Franklin, the Angels’ new second baseman.
Franklin was one of 18 players who made the team. Trout was one of 14 who did not.
Eleven months later, the Angels selected Trout with the 25th pick in the 2009 MLB draft, and Seattle selected Franklin with pick No. 27.
For their first two professional years, they rose through the minor league ranks at a similar pace, rookie ball to low A to double A.
“Yeah, I kind of know him,” Franklin told author Lucas Mann of Trout in 2010. “I saw him and I was like, ‘Yeah, he’s one of those guys that didn’t make Team USA.’ ”
Mann shadowed the 2010 Class-A Clinton LumberKings for a 2013 book, “Class A,” that places a spotlight on the small town in Iowa and the nature of minor league baseball. Franklin was the club’s star player.
“Some people think that I’m cocky or whatever,” Franklin told Mann then. “But I’m not. It’s just, I’ve never really failed. Why am I supposed to think that can happen when it never does?”
Franklin’s pro career did not take off like Trout’s. Yet, he remained a desired commodity for several years. Seattle nearly traded him for Justin Upton, and the Mariners eventually involved him in a deal with Tampa Bay for David Price.
Now, Franklin is 26 and on his third team this season. On June 30, the Angels acquired him from Milwaukee, where he started 14 games in three months.
Just after opening day, the Brewers had claimed him from Tampa Bay, where he was waived despite a sterling spring.
“I thought that was when I would really get the opportunity, this year, with them,” Franklin said.
Instead, his big chance might be with the Angels, who on Sunday designated second baseman Danny Espinosa for assignment.
A natural right-handed hitter, Franklin has batted from both sides since childhood and is now considered better from the left side. He is expected to become the Angels’ primary second baseman against right-handed pitchers.
Franklin broke into the big leagues with the Mariners in 2013, batting .225 with 12 home runs in 102 games. But his best season was last year with the Rays, when he batted .270 with an aboveaverage .771 on-base-plusslugging percentage over 60 games.
Between those seasons, some unusual injuries contributed to his lack of consistent playing time. Among them: a torn hamstring he sustained while stretching to field a throw at first base; a torn oblique he suffered during batting practice; and three concussions, including one when he was struck while in the on-deck circle when a teammate lost his grip on a bat.
“It’s been a roller coaster, but nothing too high, nothing too down,” he said. “I’m just trying to keep it steady. I try not to look at the next day as my last day.”
It took more than two weeks for his car to get from Milwaukee to Anaheim. He hasn’t yet found an apartment to rent, so he’s living out of a hotel.
“Sometimes,” he said, “it’s hard just getting adjusted to your teammates and settling in.”