The Los Angeles Dodgers are about to make history with Clayton Kershaw.
He’s just 30 strikeouts away from reaching 3,000 strikeouts. Right now, there are only 19 pitchers in Major League Baseball history who have done this. Kershaw is 30 strikeouts away and will be the 20th. This already led to the question of who will come next?
FOX Sports talked about this topic and one guy they mentioned as having an outside shot at 3,000 strikeouts, but is unlikely, is Philadelphia Phillies hurler Aaron Nola.
“You then have to go all the way to Aaron Nola at just 1,831 strikeouts for the next-highest active player,” FOX Sports said. “He would need absolutely perfect health from here on out, while averaging around 150 strikeouts per season from now through 2032. Not impossible! But it’s the little bit of built-in improbability in these exercises that have kept so many others, Hall of Famers included, from reaching 3,000. Ask Jacob deGrom about that. He’s arguably the greatest pitcher of his generation in terms of pure talent, and the fastest to reach 1,700 career strikeouts, as he recently achieved in May.
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“However, it took him until he was 37 as that is measured by games – and deGrom’s years are full of injuries that have limited him from recording even more. Beyond Nola, it’s basically impossible to say now, which is a combination of pitchers too old to get there before it’s time to retire, and pitchers too young to project forward. Strikeouts might be higher than they’ve ever been, but innings are so much lower these days counters that rise: teams are more willing to go to their bullpens sooner and more regularly.”
Nola is just 31 years old. Could he reach that milestone?
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