Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw and Chicago White Sox star Chris Sale are often compared by the media as being similar
pitchers. Both are young, hard throwing strike out leaders with a lot left to prove in their careers. Kershaw led the
National League during the 2013 seasons in strikeouts with 232 and managed to walk only 52 batters for a 0.22 BB/IP ratio.
Sale, who was third in the American League in strikeouts with 226, walked only 46 batters and had a 0.21 BB/IP ratio
(MLB Avg. 0.39 BB/IP).
Additionally, both pitchers throw fast and throw strikes often. Kershaw threw a fastball 60% of pitches last season in a
range of 92-94 mph with 60% of all pitches in the strike zone. On top of this, he threw a fastball on the first pitch to
79% of the batters he faced and threw a first pitch strike 63% of the time. Sale also came in often with the heat throwing
51% of his pitches between 91-95 mph with a 14% swing and miss rate on fastballs (MLB Avg. 10%). Similar to Kershaw,
Sale threw 64% of all pitches in the strike zone. Although these two look similar on paper, detailed analysis shows
how different these pitchers really are.
To start, Kershaw and Sale both have very different arm motions. Kershaw comes over the top with his pitch and releases
the ball at a height of about 6.25 feet. This is nearly 1.25 feet higher than Sale, who pitches with a side-ways,
inverted W, motion. Due to the different pitching motions, each pitcher gets distinct movement compared to his
counterpart.
While Kershaw and Sale are still young, both are out to prove to be the best. Even though Sale had an 11-14 record last
season while pitching for one of the least productive offensive teams in baseball, he had a 17-win season in 2012.
Meanwhile, Kershaw had 16 wins last seasons and a season high of 21 during the 2011 season.
With drastically different approaches, both pitchers gets very different break on each pitch. Kershaw, who threw a
slider 25% of pitches in 2013, gets very little movement and had a .326 batting average against off of that pitch.
On the other hand, Sale threw a long sweeping slider and got 56% more spin on that pitch than the MLB average.
For Sale, a slider was thrown 29% of the time and he had a .297 batting average against when batters hit the pitch
into play.
Additionally, Kershaw throws a relatively flat, rising fastball and changeup compared to Sale’s large fading action.
Although Kershaw obtains such little horizontal movement, it is remarkable how large of a difference the vertical break
is between his three main pitches.
While Kershaw has an NL Cy Young award in his bag, Sale is still looking to make that jump to the next level.
A World Series matchup is a far stretch at this time, but perhaps an All Star Game showdown is just around the
corner for these two southpaws.
NOTE: All statistics accurate as of 03/19/14
By Danny Malter
AriBall.com
