Dodgers: Minor League Player Perfectly Imitates Clayton Kershaw's Unique Delivery
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If the old adage is true, then Clayton Kershaw has a very big fan in the Cleveland Guardians organization. Minor league pitcher Will Dion has a near-identical wind-up and delivery to the Dodgers legendary lefty. Baseball Twitter took notice.
In an interview with Jorge Castillo of the LA Times, Dion retold his initial reaction to the viral video.
“I went home, watched some video, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God.’”
Dion talked about how his coach, Jared Gothreaux, helped him develop the delivery as a method to slow the hurler's body down to assist with his mechanics. The pitching prospect reaffirmed how he wasn't trying to steal Kershaw's iconic delivery.
“But nothing was made to copy him. It wasn’t, ‘I’m copying him. I like that. I’m doing that.’ It wasn’t anything like that.”
However, the 22-year-old pitching prospect is now a big fan of the three-time Cy Young winners.
“He ended up drawing me in, especially with the Kershaw’s Challenge and all that stuff. He ended being one of my favorite players. Not just on the field, but off the field as well.”
As Castillo points out, their wind-up and delivers are the same, but Dion doesn't raise his hands above his head when pitching out of the stretch. Which of course is another signature Kershaw habit.
Kershaw think that's pretty beneficial for Dion and poked some fun at himself in his quote.
“That’s OK. He probably doesn’t tip his pitches then.”
