Getty
Dodgers pitcher Justin Wrobleski is starting to remind people of Clayton Kershaw.
Justin Wrobleski earned some seriously high praise from Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
The Dodgers manager compared their 25-year-old budding left-handed ace to longtime LA ace, and Wrobleski’s mentor, Clayton Kershaw after Wrobleski played stopper and dominated the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday at Busch Stadium.
Wrobleski threw six shutout innings while scattering six hits and walking just one to improve to 5-0 this year. His five wins matches his total from last season already, and his 1.25 ERA leads the National League
Wrobleski is second among qualifying starting pitchers in ERA only trailing his Southern California rival Jose Soriano of the Los Angeles Angels.
Dave Roberts Compared Justin Wrobleski to Clayton Kershaw
The Dodgers had lost four straight, were in the midst of a 5-9 stretch and were in danger of falling out of first place in the National League West when they gave the ball to Wrobleski for the series finale in St. Louis on Sunday.
Wrobleski has co-opted Kershaw’s routine in starts, in part to try and achieve his mentor’s success on the hill. Kershaw, of course, retired after the Dodgers won the 2025 World Series as No. 2 on their all-time pitching wins list (223) and as the franchise’s all-time strikeout leader (3,052).
“Watching him and his everyday [routine] was something special for me,” Wrobleski said. “Not everybody gets the opportunity to be around these guys that are legends of the game.”
So watching Wrobleski mow down the Cardinals with ruthless efficiency — he threw just 83 pitches to record his 18 outs — was reminiscent of Kershaw to Roberts.
“I think that as far as expectations on what we’re going to get when we give him the baseball, it’s right in line,” Roberts said after LA’s 4-1 win. “He’s prepared. He goes after guys. He wears Skechers like Clayton does. He does his side work with his full jersey like Clayton did.”
Wrobleski did not strike out a batter and got 10 groundballs on the 24 batters faced. That also was similar to Kershaw, especially toward the end of his career where the lefty made up for lost fast-ball velocity by becoming more of a pitcher.
“He’s got a great mentor in Clayton,” Roberts said. “I think a lot of times [Wrobleski is] channeling that kind of, ‘Go at guys and make them put the ball in play.'”
Not all Dodgers Want to Compare Justin Wrobleski to Clayton Kershaw
Not everyone was ready to buy into the comparison between the 25-year-old and likely first-ballot Baseball Hall of Famer.
“No, not yet,” Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman said with a laugh when asked about the comparison. “Let’s let Clayton Kershaw be Clayton Kershaw.”
Kershaw has the third-most starts in Dodgers history (451) and ranks fourth in innings pitched (2,855 1/3) among all-time Dodgers. Wrobleski is 239th in franchise history in innings (139), more than 2,700 back of his mentor.
Still, Wrobleski effectively confirmed Kershaw’s impact on him in their two seasons together.
“I’d say from watching him, he was just going out there and kind of bullying guys with his stuff,” Wrobleski said. “Not trying to trick anybody or do anything super out of the ordinary. He was just using his stuff the way he knew how, and the way he knew equated to success.”
Pat Pickens is an experienced sports writer and media personality who has written for outlets like NHL.com, the Associated Press, the New York Times and USA Today. He covers the NFL, NBA, NHL and NBA as a breaking news contributor at Heavy. More about Pat Pickens