Since making his Los Angeles Dodgers debut over a decade ago, Clayton Kershaw has established himself as one of the greatest pitchers in MLB history.
He has accomplished virtually everything from a statistical standpoint, including winning National League MVP honors in 2014, three Cy Young Awards, five NL ERA titles and eight All-Star Game selections.
Kershaw additionally threw a no-hitter against the Colorado Rockies in 2014, striking out 15 batters and yielding just one baserunner via an error.
Catching him that night was longtime battery-mate A.J. Ellis, who developed a friendship with the left-hander while coming up together through the Dodgers’ system.
Ellis recalled the many occasions catching Kershaw and didn’t realize how respected he was by other MLB players during his playing days, via Andy McCullough and Pedro Moura of The Athletic:
“I didn’t realize, playing with him, the impact he’s had on the entirety of Major League Baseball,” he said. “When you go around to other teams, other coaches, even front-office members on other teams, it’s easily the most common thing they want to talk about with me. And it’s nonstop. Every single player, every single coach, it’s like: ‘What makes him tick?’
“And they always have a story about him. Everyone has a story about watching him pitch or seeing him in the outfield running in between starts, or, ‘He said this to me once.’ Because of our friendship, I don’t think I realized the impact he’s had on our game and on the players in our game. Young pitchers, man, they love him. They gravitate toward watching him. Everyone says he’s like my favorite guy to watch pitch. It’s pretty impressive when you think about the respect that he has across the game of baseball.”
As Ellis noted, Kershaw’s work ethic is often the first quality that many people bring up when discussing him. His attention to detail and methodical approach separates him from the rest of the pack, so it’s no surprise many young pitchers try modeling their game after him.
Still just 32 years old, the one thing that has evaded Kershaw to this point is a World Series championship. If and when the 2020 season begins, he figures to have as good of a chance as ever to add one to his already Hall-of-Fame caliber résumé.
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