MacKenzie Gore must have the best agent in baseball. Not his sports agent who negotiates his contract. His press agent who somehow negotiates baseball writers to say the most wonderful things about him.

First, it took five prospects from an already thin Rangers farm system to pry him away from the Washington Nationals. A five-for-one deal is usually reserved for a top player. That got a lot of attention.

Then, once the deal was made, talking heads talked about Texas now having three aces.

And today, in The Dallas Morning News, Tim Cowlishaw completed the coronation by proclaimed Gore as Clayton Kershaw 2.0. 

This is a guy with a 4.19 career ERA. Not Kershaw, Gore. Comparatively, through his first four major league seasons, Kershaw’s ERA was 2.88. That’s a Pacific Ocean-sized difference. 

Kershaw had 745 strikeouts through four seasons. Gore has had 589. Kershaw averaged nearly seven innings per start. Gore, five. After four seasons, Kershaw had one Cy Young award. Gore, none. It’s doubtful Gore has even registered one Cy Young award vote. 

Don’t take this the wrong way. MacKenzie Gore makes the Rangers rotation better. Because, frankly, there really wasn’t much else to choose from. What he is, though, is a pitcher with a ton of upside who has yet to show any kind of real consistency. 

Okay, Gore is left-handed. So was Kershaw. And Gore strikes out a lot of hitters. So did Kershaw. But that’s where the comparison ends.

Gore just turned twenty-seven. By the time Kershaw was twenty-seven, he had three Cy Young awards and finished second in voting once, one MVP award, and four All-Star Game appearances. 

Sorry, but Gore will need to work really really hard to come close to resembling the pitcher Clayton Kershaw was. He’ll have to work even harder than his press agent.

*****

Los Angles Dogers versus Texas, 2:05