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Clayton Edward Kershaw is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball. A left-handed starting pitcher, Kershaw has played in the Major Leagues since 2008 and his career earned run average is the lowest among starters in the live-ball era with a minimum of 1,000 innings pitched.
Kershaw was drafted seventh overall in the 2006 MLB Draft. He worked his way through the Dodgers' farm system in just one full season and reached the majors at 20 years old. When he debuted in 2008, he was the youngest player in MLB, a title he held for one full year. In 2011, he won the pitching Triple Crown and the National League Cy Young Award, becoming the youngest pitcher to accomplish either of these feats since Dwight Gooden in 1985. Being a left-handed strikeout pitcher and playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kershaw has often been compared to Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax.
Off the field, Kershaw is an active participant in volunteer work. He and his wife, Ellen, launched "Kershaw’s Challenge" and wrote the book Arise to help to raise money to build an orphanage in Zambia. He has been honored with the Roberto Clemente Award and the Branch Rickey Award for his humanitarian work.
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