Reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw will pitch for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes tonight against Lancaster as he begins a rehab assignment. Kershaw pitched in the Dodgers’ Opening Day win over the Diamondbacks in Australia and went on the disabled list for the first time in his career shortly thereafter.
While the goal is obviously to get Kershaw healthy and back to the big club, the Quakes, at 6-15, can use all the help they can get in the early-going. The pitching staff has an ERA of 4.44 and a collective WHIP of 1.48, which both rank in the bottom half of the league.
The game is sold out, with a Brian Wilson BobbleBeard giveaway in addition to Kershaw’s appearance.
Kershaw has won the NL Cy Young Award twice, in 2011 and 2013, and came in second in the voting in 2012. He didn’t pitch in the California League on his way to the majors, stopping in loA Great Lakes in 2007 before jumping to AA Jacksonville at the end of that season. Kershaw started 2008 at Jacksonville and was called up to the Dodgers that same year.
