Three-time National League Cy Young award winning pitcher Clayton Kershaw is always a strong candidate to win the award entering a new season. Sure enough, he pitched well to begin the 2023 campaign. Kershaw, however, suffered an injury in late June and was placed on the injured list in early July. Kershaw ended up not returning until early August.

But can Kershaw still win the NL Cy Young despite missing a significant amount of time due to injury?

*Stats via Baseball Reference.

Clayton Kershaw's impressive 2023 season amid injury concerns

Dodgers, Clayton Kershaw

There's no doubt that from a statistical perspective Kershaw deserves consideration. The only issue is his fairly limited sample size.

Overall, Kershaw's pitched to the tune of a sparkling 2.48 ERA and 1.025 WHIP. He's also struck out 111 hitters and walked only 26. That said, the future Hall of Famer has pitched in just 105.1 innings and started only 18 games as of this story's publication.

Potential NL Cy Young frontrunner Zac Gallen, meanwhile, has recorded 155.2 innings pitched to go along with 25 starts. Other candidates such as Logan Webb, Blake Snell, and Spencer Strider have all made at least 24 starts.

Can Kershaw still win the NL Cy Young?

Nobody is running away with the NL Cy Young. Gallen's been impressive without question, but his 3.24 ERA doesn't suggest that he's running away with the award. He does lead the league with a 1.066 WHIP (among qualified pitchers) though. Still, Kershaw's stats are just as good but they have come in less innings/appearances.

Snell leads the league in ERA with a 2.65 mark. However, he also has the most walks with 78. Strider is the league leader in strikeouts (217) but his 3.75 ERA is far from ideal. As for Webb, he's had an all-around strong season despite often flying under the radar.

In the end, however, none of these pitchers are guaranteed to win the NL Cy Young in 2023. That means the door is still open. If Clayton Kershaw can stay healthy and continue to dominate opponents down the stretch, he should receive serious consideration. It really all depends on how much the voters value total innings pitched and overall workload.

To answer the question, yes, Kershaw can win the award. However, it won't be easy.