12 facts behind Kershaw's march to 3,000 strikeouts

We are so lucky to get to witness Clayton Kershaw's career.

The Dodgers left-hander added yet another line to his first-ballot Hall of Fame resume on Wednesday against the White Sox, reaching 3,000 career strikeouts.

He’s the 20th member of the 3,000-strikeout club and first to join since Max Scherzer in 2021.

• 10 moments that define Kershaw's career

Here’s a look at 12 stats and facts about Kershaw’s 3,000 strikeouts.

• Kershaw is iconic in Dodger blue, which he has worn his entire career. He joins Walter Johnson (Senators) and Bob Gibson (Cardinals) as the only pitchers with 3,000 or more career strikeouts all for one team.

• Another subset of the 20 in this exclusive club is lefties. Kershaw is the fourth left-handed pitcher with 3,000 strikeouts, joining Randy Johnson, Steve Carlton and CC Sabathia.

• One thing that may have stood out with those first two notes is the fact we are invoking all-time greats. The 3,000 mark is certainly elite territory: Of the 19 other pitchers to reach it, the only ones not in the Hall of Fame are Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling, plus Scherzer and Justin Verlander, who are not yet eligible.

By the numbers

• Kershaw struck out 959 different players en route to 3,000. Each of the three batters he fanned on Wednesday -- Miguel Vargas, Lenyn Sosa and Vinny Capra -- were first-timers on Kershaw’s strikeout ledger.

• One of those 959 batters was Will Venable, now the manager of the White Sox team Kershaw faced Wednesday. He’s the fourth pitcher to reach 3,000 strikeouts against a team managed by an individual he struck out in his career, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Bob Gibson did so on July 17, 1974, vs Sparky Anderson’s Reds, Phil Niekro did it on July 4, 1984, vs Doug Rader’s Rangers and Verlander accomplished the feat on Sept. 28, 2019, vs Brad Ausmus’ Angels.

• His most strikeouts against any batter were 30, of Brandon Belt. Belt’s primary team over his career, the Giants, was on the receiving end of the most Kershaw strikeouts. He has 413 against the Giants.

• His current manager, Dave Roberts, who made the decision to leave Kershaw in the game to begin the sixth inning and reach the mark, has managed the most of the 3,000 strikeouts. Kershaw has 1,254 under Roberts, 1,249 under Don Mattingly and 497 under Joe Torre.

• Kershaw has thrown to 14 catchers in his career, with at least two strikeouts to each. His most strikeouts are with A.J. Ellis behind the plate -- 920 of them.

• Of Kershaw’s strikeouts with pitch-tracking data -- which are almost all of them -- his most common putaway pitch is his slider. He has 1,314 strikeouts on that slider, including No. 3,000 of Capra. He has 899 on his four-seamer and 743 on his curve.

• How about witnessing the most of these strikeouts as a teammate? Four Dodgers teammates appeared in games in which Kershaw combined for over 1,000 strikeouts, per Elias. They are Andre Ethier (1,533), Matt Kemp (1,368), Justin Turner (1,211) and Adrian Gonzalez (1,062).

• How about from the opposing dugout? Four players appeared as opponents in games where Kershaw struck out at least 200 combined, per Elias. Not surprisingly, they’re all Giants: Buster Posey (293), Brandon Crawford (231), Belt (223) and Pablo Sandoval (215).

• 897 of his strikeouts have come in four-pitch at-bats, including No. 3,000. 773 took five pitches. But the most remarkable are the 608 that required just three pitches -- including Nos. 2,998 and 2,999. That’s the third-most three-pitch strikeouts in the Wild Card era, behind only Scherzer (681) and Johnson (640).