LOS ANGELES – Saying that a slider has good depth means that it breaks late, that it travels straight for a while – “staying in the same lane as a fastball,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts explains – before bending through the strike zone. Sliders without depth swerve too early, making them easier to track and hit.
Thursday night, Clayton Kershaw’s slider was as deep as the Pacific. He and Roberts credited the return of that pitch’s snappiness as the main factor in Kershaw’s dominant performance in the Dodgers’ wild-card series-clinching 3-0 victory over Milwaukee.
It was a young arm’s slider.