The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
ACE OF A TEACHER
2-time Cy Young award winner Corey Kluber holds camp at Mentor High School
Corey Kluber talks with campers during his Corey Kluber Baseball Procamp at Mentor High School on June 21. The Indians’ star pitcher — known for his stone-faced, emotionless demeanor on the mound, was having the time of his life with the 280 kids who were taking part in the camp that bore his name.
Corey Kluber was all smiles June 21. No, really. The reigning American League Cy Young Award winner strolled around a practice field at Mentor High School with the broadest of smiles on his face, stopping often to give tips at the Corey Kluber Baseball Procamp. Why was he smiling so? Maybe it was because he was helping kids.
Then again, maybe the 32-yearold remembered what it was like to be 10, 11 or 12 years old all over again.
Either way, the Indians’ star pitcher — known for his stonefaced, emotionless demeanor on the mound, was having the time of his life with the 280 kids who were taking part in the camp that bore his name.
“I think we have an opportunity as members of the Indians to do different things throughout the year to hopefully bring joy,” Kluber said. “And kids have a chance to have fun.” Fun. That was the operative word of the day.
Kids were running from station to station in excitement. On fly ball drills, youngsters dove out on their bellies to make plays. When Kluber stopped to help, especially in the pitching portion of the camp, young players looked attentively at the star pitcher of their hometown team.
“He taught me a lot of good things,” said Zach Heimberger of Mentoron-the-Lake. “Mostly it was about pitching, keeping your head still, making good contact when you throw, keeping your leg up and then stepping and throwing.
“He said you want your head to be as still as possible when you pitch.”
Peyton Davison traveled all the way from Florida with his father for the camp. They’re in town for four Indians games and to learn from Kluber.
“My dad was born in Cleveland,” Davison said with a smile, “so he made sure I was an Indians fan.”
Kluber is just a fan of making sure kids are outside being active. He said baseball, football, and basketball — what have you — are all competitive sports. But kids need to have fun when doing any of them.
“Whatever it is, you compete and want to win,” Kluber said, “but at the end, it’s a game and you want them to have fun.”
Kluber was asked a myriad of questions — understandably — by the campers. Some were shy and ducked their heads in the face of their hero.
One camper asked how a player can hit buckets and buckets of balls, but a pitcher can’t do the same. So how does Kluber practice pitching?
“You try to make every pitch count,” he said, “otherwise your arm’s gonna fall off. Have a goal with each pitch and try to improve.”
A number of area coaches lent their support by coaching at the camp, including Chagrin Falls assistant baseball coach John Scott, Lake Erie College assistant Jerry Hites and Lake Catholic softball coach Jim Galloway.
“He just pitched yesterday,” Galloway said of Kluber’s seven innings of shutout ball in a 12-0 win over the White Sox. “And he’s here today. That tells you what kind of person he is. To me, that’s more important than the kind of baseball player he is.”
With that shutout win, the Indians improved to 40-33. They hold a fivegame lead over the Tigers and a 5 ½-game lead over the Twins heading into the weekend series with the visiting Tigers.
Kluber said he likes the position of his team as the halfway point of the season nears.
“I think obviously the goal is to improve throughout the course of the year,” he said. “In a perfect world, you hit the ground running in April and carry all the way through the end of September. Reality says it’s a long season. There are ups and downs. Each game is a new game, whether the last one went well or didn’t go well. Hopefully it pays off in the long run.”