Clayton Edward Kershaw is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball. He has played for the Dodgers for the entirety of his MLB career. A left-handed starting pitcher, Clayton has played 14 seasons in the major leagues since he debuted in 2008. He is an eight-time All-Star, three-time National League (NL) Cy Young Award winner, and the 2014 NL Most Valuable Player. His 2.49 career earned run average (ERA) and 1.00 walks plus hits per inning pitched rate (WHIP) are the lowest among starters in the live-ball era (minimum 1,000 innings pitched). He has a career hits allowed per nine innings pitched average of 6.81, the third-lowest in MLB history. He has been described for much of his career as the best pitcher in baseball, and one of the greatest pitchers of all time.

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 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.