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When Clayton Kershaw makes his Major League debut Sunday afternoon against the Cardinals, not only do fans get a look at the organization’s #1 pick in the 2006 draft, the club’s prize lefthanded fireballer, and owner of this now famous curveball, but they are relieved from the prospect of having to watch one of Ned Colletti’s least popular pickups, the cranky and decidedly unsuccessful righthander Esteban Loaiza, who was designated for assignment. 

Fair to say everyone’s a winner. 

In Kershaw, the Dodgers have a pitcher with electric stuff and virtually no professional seasoning.  201 innings while drawing a paycheck, including a grand total of 67 above Rookie and A ball.  They’ve been incredibly protective of him, limiting both Kershaw’s innings and pitch counts, both to do whatever they can to ensure his health- he’s barely 20 years old- in the long term, and try to make sure he’s got enough in the tank to help the Blue through a pennant race. 

From a practical standpoint, it’ll be interesting to see how he helps the Dodgers’ pitching staff.  On the one hand, he certainly has more potential to fill the fifth starter role with aplomb, and at the very least with fewer arms, than ChanHong-HoChi Kuoark, but don’t look for Kershaw to go deep into games.  If the other guys in the rotation don’t take pressure off the pen, Kershaw won’t solve that problem.  The Dodgers will take no chances, so Kershaw will be on a strict pitch count.  It’s something Joe Torre experienced last season with Joba Chamberlain. 

He’s got the skill to make a difference, and is fortunate to be in a situation where he won’t be expected to carry the team.  But still, the scrutiny on Kershaw will be intense, and hopefully people will avoid jumping to any conclusions about the next ten years of his career based on his next five starts, determining he’s either the next Sandy Koufax or too quickly rushed, a’la Edwin Jackson (or for that matter, Sandy Koufax).  You get the point. 

However it works, one thing is for certain: What would otherwise be a mundane Sunday afternoon game in late May, just got a lot more exciting.

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