ST. LOUIS — No one is confusing Justin Wrobleski with a future first-ballot Hall of Famer.
But on Sunday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts evoked Clayton Kershaw’s name when describing the young lefty’s growth as a starting pitcher.
“He’s got a great mentor in Clayton,” Roberts said. “And I think a lot of times, he’s channeling [Kershaw’s mindset] of, ‘Go at guys and make them put the ball in play.’”
That’s certainly what Wrobleski did Sunday at Busch Stadium, spinning six scoreless innings without a strikeout in the Dodgers’ 4-1 win over the Cardinals.
The performance improved Wrobleski’s stunning stat line since moving to the rotation, giving him a 5-0 record and 0.59 ERA following his early-season promotion from the bullpen (he has a 1.25 ERA overall this season, second best among qualified MLB pitchers).
It also reinforced his newfound reputation for attacking the zone and pitching to contact; rendering his league-low mark in strikeouts-per-nine-innings (3.75) almost meaningless as he gobbles up innings and puts zeros on the scoreboard.
“He is very understanding of, the most important thing is to get outs,” Roberts said. “And you’re either going to chase strikeouts and work behind and nibble and not be efficient, go shorter in games. Or you’re going to keep going after guys and getting outs.”
Wrobleski has indeed opted for the latter — thanks in part to the lessons he learned from Kershaw as the three-time Cy Young winner’s teammate the last two years.
Asthetically, Wrobleski has always bore a couple notable resemblances to Kershaw.
“He wears Skechers like Clayton does,” Roberts joked. “And he does his side work with his full jersey like Clayton did.”
However, the 25-year-old starlet has started to emulate his now-retired teammate in more profound ways, too.
“Just watching him and his everyday [routine] was something special for me,” Wrobleski said. “Because not everybody gets the opportunity to be around these guys that are legends of the game.”
Wrobleski explained how he drew inspiration from the way Kershaw utilized his fastball/slider/curveball arsenal — which is similar to Wrobleski’s current pitch mix.
It showed him the value of sequencing his weapons to keep hitters off balance and how attacking the zone can be just as effective as trying to generate chase.
“He was just going out there and kind of bullying guys with his stuff, not trying to trick anybody or do anything super out of the ordinary,” Wrobleski said. “He was just using his stuff the way he knew how and the way he knew equated to success. And he just did it over and over and over again and obviously perfected his craft at doing that.”
Wrobleski also noted that he has watched film of Kershaw, both this season and during his rise through the Dodgers’ farm system, as he has worked to create his own pitching “blueprint.”
“Not everybody’s is the same,” said Wrobleski, who also listed other stars such as Jacob deGrom as models for his game. “It’s just understanding that if you do what you’re good at over and over again, that’s how you get here and that’s how you stay here.”
Kershaw, of course, wasn’t exactly averse to strikeouts. Last summer, he became the 20th MLB pitcher to record 3,000 in his career.
During Wrobleski’s short time around Kershaw, however, he saw the then-veteran pitcher adapt to a more contact-minded approach.
So, while Wrobleski still believes “the strikeouts will come” for himself — he averaged more than 10 per-nine-innings last season while primarily serving as a reliever — he isn’t fretting over his lack of swing-and-miss right now, either.
Just like Kershaw, he’s finding other ways to succeed.
Now, Skechers aren’t the only thing they have in common.
“He’s prepared,” Roberts said of Wrobleski, “and he goes after guys.”
