Clayton Kershaw Gifted Beer By His All-Star Replacement David Bednar

Published|Updated

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher David Bednar had the coolest "thank you" to Clayton Kershaw - a cooler of beer.

Despite having solid stats so far this season with 16 saves and a 1.36 ERA, the Pirates closing pitcher was originally left off this year's All-Star roster. However, after the Dodgers placed Kershaw 15-day injured list on Monday, Bednar got the call that he would be returning to his second All-Star Game.

Coincidentally, the Pirates were actually facing the Dodgers the day after the announcement came down and Bednar wanted to show his appreciation to Kershaw.

Prior to their game, he went and picked up a cooler of Pittsburgh's local Iron City Lights beers, brought them over to the visiting Dodgers dugout, and left it on the bench. Bednar then attached a hand-written note that read, "Mr. Kershaw, Pittsburgh’s finest beer! Enjoy!”

The class act and cool move is being praised as a W by a younger player paying respects to one of pitching's all time greats, who clearly is bummed that he won't be able to be out there on the field next week when Seattle hosts the game on July 11th.

Shohei Ohtani leaves game with a finger injury and is not expected to play in the All-Star Game. (Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)

MLB FACES BIG NAME INJURIES

Kershaw's injury however, is just the latest of a number of baseball's most popular players who will not be playing in the game. Both the Los Angeles Angels Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani are now not expected to play in the game due to recent injuries. The same goes with the Yankees Aaron Judge, who still hasn't returned to baseball after suffering a toe injury over a month ago.

Although the television network's may not be too excited with the big names missing out on the game from a ratings standpoint, it does give viewers a chance to learn about the next era of players such as Ronald Acuna Jr., Julio Rodriguez and yes even David Bednar - whose reaction here is everything you need to know about how excited he was after receiving the All-Star news: