KK's impersonations

I love Carroll's stories at the AJC. This is part of last night's article on New Javy wanting to stick around...

Kawakami performs

Kenshin Kawakami has brought more than an extra arm to eat up some innings in the bullpen. He has provided a little comic relief.

In the sixth inning of Tuesday night’s game against the Mets, with Tommy Hanson cruising on the mound, Kawakami put on a show for his fellow relievers by imitating Braves’ hitters. That’s one language that needs no translation.

He started with the easy target: Adam LaRoche. He had them laughing at his Brian McCann imitation, right down to signaling for a time-out to take off his helmet and cleans his glasses. Buddy Carlyle’s personal favorite was Kawakami’s Matt Diaz.

“In Japan I did a lot of impersonations,” Kawakami said through his interpreter.

It should be no surprise, then, that Peter Moylan thinks Kawakami’s best impersonation is Ichiro, which he saw in spring training. On Tuesday night, Moylan was partial to Kawakami’s McCann and to his imitation of Yunel Escobar jumping in the on-deck circle.

When asked whose swing is the toughest to impersonate among his teammates, Kawakami said Garret Anderson.

“He has such pretty form, it’s hard to imitate,” Kawakami said through his interpreter. “It’s so smooth.”

So who can do the best imitation of Kawakami?

“Martin [Prado],” Kawakami said.

As for McCann, he heard about the imitations and got a chuckle out of it.

“I got something for him,” McCann said with a grin.

It's the behind-the-scenes stuff I love. Thanks, Carroll! :)