During Sunday night’s game between the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers, former Major League pitcher Clayton Kershaw made an appearance on the NBC and Peacock broadcast.
During his appearance, Kershaw talked about his relationship with the head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners, Skip Johnson. Johnson was a big mentor for Kershaw throughout his baseball career. In particular, Johnson helped Kershaw work on his mechanics while he was playing high school baseball in Texas.
On the NBC broadcast on August 2, in response to a question about maintaining consistency throughout his MLB career, Kershaw said:
“Skip Johnson was one of my pitching coaches growing up,” said Kershaw. “He always told me to make the next pitch.”
Kershaw and Johnson have both come a long way in their respective careers since the two worked together.
Skip Johnson led Oklahoma to the 2026 national championship
In 2026, Johnson led Oklahoma to the school’s third national title in program history. The Sooners finished with a 43-23 overall record and a 14-16 record in Southeastern Conference play.
The path to their 2026 national championship was a tumultuous one. Along the way, Oklahoma defeated three conference championship teams. The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Kansas Jayhawks, and Georgia Bulldogs were all defeated by the Sooners twice during the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
Johnson has completed nine seasons as Oklahoma’s head coach. He has won 310 games as the head coach in Norman.
Kershaw and his Hall of Fame MLB career
Kershaw retired from professional baseball after the 2025 season. He played 18 seasons in the MLB, all of them with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Kershaw finished his MLB career with a 2.53 ERA and 3,052 strikeouts. He has the 20th most career strikeouts in MLB history. During his time with the Dodgers, he won two World Series titles, was an 11-time All-Star, and a three-time Cy Young Award winner.
In 2014, he was the National League Most Valuable Player as he finished with a 21-3 record and a 1.77 ERA in 198 1/3 innings of work. During that same season, Kershaw also had six complete games and struck out 239 hitters.
Kershaw also won the National League Triple Crown Award for pitchers in 2011. He led the National League in ERA (2.28), strikeouts (248), and wins (21).
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PHOTO: Oklahoma head baseball coach Skip Johnson looks to his players before an NCAA college baseball tournament super regional game against Virginia Tech Saturday, June 11, 2022, Blacksburg, Va. Oklahoma clinched its first Big 12 regular-season championship with a three-game sweep of Baylor over the weekend. (AP Photo/Matt Gentry)
