Left-handed pitcher Victor Garate became the second alum of the Great Lakes Loons to crack a major league roster when we was acquired by the Washington Nationals (admittedly, calling the Nats “major league” is a bit of a stretch–one baseball professional I know referred to Washington as Quadruple-A ball). After a solid season at AA Chattanooga, the Nationals picked up Garate as the player to be named in the Ronnie Belliard/Luis Garcia trade. The Nats claimed Garate off waivers and immediately put him on their big league (again, a stretch) roster. Garate made his major league debut pitching in relief on September 5th, giving up 2 earned runs in one inning.

I’m sure he wasn’t happy with that first outing, but hopefully he is going to get the chance to make the most of his first chance to be in the show.

Congratulations, Victor. Everybody here in mid-Michigan is rooting for you.

I’ve written about Clayton Kershaw a couple of other times and I imagine I will write about him again in the future. Clayton was the young gun superstar-to-be who pitched for the Loons during our inaugural season. He is a lanky left-hander with a curve ball that makes grown men buckle at the knees. 

He has been hailed as everything from ‘the next big thing’ to ‘a once-in-a-generation talent’ by scouts and baseball publications. Even with all of the hype, he was really a pretty nice kid. At left is a poster I shot and designed of Clayton. He was really easy to work with and made the photo shoot an easy process. 

Anyway…Clayton rocketed from low-A ball in Midland to AA ball in Jacksonville to the Los Angeles Dodgers in about 18 months time. He spent most of last year with the Dodgers and really started getting into a groove by the time the season ended. His first outing this year was strong, so he looked poised to have a great season. But did anybody expect what happened last night?

7 innings pitched, 1 hit allowed, struck out 13 batters. 13 Ks in seven innings? That’s siiiiiick! 

Unfortunately, he didn’t get the win because the Dodgers couldn’t give him much run support. He was a total pro about it after the game, though. He was happy enough that the Dodgers won the game. 

“I’m fine with it,” said Kershaw. “I mean, there’s going to be a game down the road where I go five innings and give up five runs and get the win. That’s just part of baseball.”

The kid just turned 21, had a fantastic outing in only his second start of the season and displays that kind of poise and professionalism. I am really impressed with him. Way to be a great player and a great sportsman, Clayton. 

Good luck with the rest of your season.