On June 24, 1955, a 19-year-old left-hander by the name of Sanford Koufax made his MLB debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers and for the first six years of his career he was… well, not very good. In fact, from 1955 through 1960, Koufax posted a 36-40 record with a mediocre 4.08 ERA and a 1.425 WHIP. During that time Koufax struck out a total of 683 batters.

Because Koufax was signed as a Bonus Baby, he did not spend any time in the minor leagues – which could account for his early struggles with the Brooklyn Dodgers. (Photo credit – George Brace)

But then came 1961 and for the next six seasons Koufax went absolutely nuts, posting an unbelievable 129-47 record with an impossible 2.19 ERA and 0.969 WHIP while striking out 1,713 batters. During that time he won three NL Cy Young awards, one NL MVP title, two World Championships (to go along with his 1955 and 1959 World Championships), was a seven-time All-Star, pitched four no-hitters (including one perfect game) and won baseball’s pitching Triple Crown three times.

When all was said and done, Koufax ended his 12-year MLB career (having been forced to retire at age 30 due to an arthritic elbow) with a 165-87 record, 2.76 ERA, 1.106 WHIP and 2,396 strikeouts. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972 at the age of 36 and remains the youngest player ever to be enshrined.

On May 25, 2008, 20-year-old left-hander Clayton Kershaw made his MLB debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers and almost immediately became one of the best pitchers in the game. In his first six seasons Kershaw went 77-46 with a 2.60 ERA and a 1.092 WHIP while striking out 1,206 batters. During that time he won two NL Cy Young awards, one Gold Glove award, was a three-time All-Star and won baseball’s pitching Triple Crown once.

But then came 2014 and after 21 starts Kershaw is 15-3 with a 1.82 ERA and 0.828 WHIP. He has struck out 184 batters thus far, third most in the National League and seven behind Cincinnati’s Johnny Cueto (191) and 14 behind Washington’s Stephen Strasburg (198). Cueto and Strasburg each have pitched five more games than Kershaw with Cueto having thrown 39.1 more innings than Kershaw and Strasburg 18 more innings. Kershaw was named to the NL All-Star team for a fourth consecutive season and on June 18, 2014 he pitched his first career no-hitter at Dodger Stadium.

If Kershaw’s next six seasons are anything like his first six seasons, they better make room for his plaque in Cooperstown and his jersey number at Dodger Stadium. (Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

The point here, of course, is to illustrate that the first six seasons of Kershaw’s career have been considerably better than the first six seasons of Koufax’s career, and by a rather wide margin. And with Kershaw being only 26 years old, the possibilities are endless and absolutely boggle the mind.

Obviously the game has changed a great deal since Koufax retired from the game on November 18, 1966. Pitchers no longer go every four days, they rarely go nine innings, 200 innings in a season is now considered a milestone whereas it was 300 innings in the Koufax era, and there is a very good possibility that we may never see another 300-game winner – although if anyone has a shot at doing so it is Clayton Kershaw.

After last Thursday’s exciting come-from-behind 2-1 win over the San Diego Padres (the Justin Turner home run game) in which Kershaw picked up his MLB-tying 15th win of the season, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly found himself in a bit of an awkward situation during his post-game interview – he was struggling to say something about his young ace that he hasn’t already said.

“I don’t think I’ve seen anybody like this guy,” said Mattingly. “He’s just constantly driven, start to start. I don’t know how much more I can talk about him without saying the same thing over and over.”

You better break out your thesaurus, Don, because there is a very good chance you are going to have to say a lot more about Clayton Kershaw – and probably for a very long time.