Los Angeles Dodgers Pitcher Clayton Kershaw Visits Texas’ Bullpen

By Christian Corona

Not until his senior year in high school, at Highland Park in Dallas, did Clayton Kershaw have a pitching coach.

Eight years later, Kershaw is arguably the best pitcher on the planet. Less than a week after becoming the highest paid pitcher on the planet, Kershaw returned for another lesson with his old pitching coach – Skip Johnson.

With the ink still drying [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] on his seven-year, $215-million contract extension with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kershaw threw a bullpen at Disch-Falk Field. Several members of the Texas pitching staff witnessed the reigning Cy Young Award winner take instruction from Johnson, who served as the Texas pitching coach since 2006.

“It was cool to see the best pitcher in the world go to work and work at his craft,” said Longhorns junior right-hander Parker French. “You feel really grateful that you get to go to practice every day with Skip and learn from the best pitching coach. We’ve always trusted Skip that he’s going to develop us. That didn’t change. But he’s getting well-deserved recognition.”

French lead a Texas staff that posted a 2.61 team ERA last year, the seventh-lowest in the country. Texas returns all three of its weekend starters in French, senior Nathan Thornhill and junior Dillon Peters who combined to go 13-14 despite a collective 2.28 ERA.

Kershaw had an impressive season himself, going 16-9 with a 1.83 ERA and a National League-best 232 strikeouts en route to capturing his second Cy Young in three years.

“He’s the best pitcher in the game right now. Watching him do the things he does with a baseball, it’s kind of crazy to see that’s what it’s like at the next level,” said fellow southpaw Peters. “It was pretty cool watching Skip give him the same adjustments he gives us on a daily basis. That was kind of refreshing to see that it doesn’t really change much at the next level when it comes to minor adjustments in the bullpen.”

Despite the outstanding numbers put up by the Longhorns on the mound, they struggled at the plate. They hit .260 as a team, a big reason why they missed out on the NCAA Tournament for a second straight year after 13 straight appearances, a stretch that included seven trips to the College World Series.

But, armed with seven starting position players coming back and the country’s second-best recruiting class, according to Baseball America, Texas seems poised to return to postseason play.

Having a pitching coach like Skip Johnson, whose top pupil recently became the first baseball player to earn an annual salary of more than $30 million, definitely helps.

“Look at who our pitching coach is working with,” Thornhill said. “If you don’t trust Skip yet – which, I don’t know why you wouldn’t – but you better trust him now because that’s who he’s working with.”

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