Clayton Kershaw

Clayton Kershaw is ramping things up and moving in the right direction.

Fantasy Impact

Kershaw made his second start of the spring Thursday, giving up two runs on five hits while striking out four across 4 1/3 innings. The veteran lefty said he felt the outing was "a slight improvement from the previous one." Kershaw is healthy and will continue to ramp things up in preparation for the regular season.

Clayton Kershaw is slated to pitch Friday against the Angels in his first Cactus League game this year.

Fantasy Impact

Kershaw recently faced live hitters as he continued to work towards rejoining the Spring schedule. The 34-year-old veteran is coming of a season where he registered 12 wins in 22 games, a 2.28 ERA, and 137 strikeouts in 126 1/3 innings pitched.

Clayton Kershaw faced live hitters for the first time this spring on Tuesday.

Fantasy Impact

Kershaw continues to make progressions at Dodgers camp. He should be ready to pitch in a spring training game at some point soon.

Clayton Kershaw threw a bullpen session on Saturday.

Fantasy Impact

Kershaw is healthy, but was forced to withdraw from the World Baseball Classic due to other problems. He should pitch in the Cactus League soon as he enters another season in the Dodgers starting rotation.

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is facing challenges in getting cleared for the upcoming World Baseball Classic.

Fantasy Impact

The news came from Team USA general manager Tony Reagins while Kershaw also alluded to 'complications' in getting cleared. While the issues are undisclosed, it appears the Americans could be without a key rotation piece. Back issues have dogged the future Hall of Famer in recent seasons, limiting him to just 22 starts in each of the last two campaigns. Nonetheless, he returned to vintage Kershaw with a 2.28 ERA and 23.1% K-BB% across his 126 1/3 frames a season ago.