Signed by the Dodgers as an undrafted free agent in 2004, Jansen converted from a catcher to a relief pitcher in the minor leagues and made his major league debut in 2010. He served as the Dodgers' closer starting in 2012, and led the National League (NL) in saves in 2017 and 2022. After 11 years in the major leagues with the Dodgers, he entered free agency and signed a one-year deal with the Braves. He then signed with the Red Sox, and is currently their closer.
Jansen is a four-time MLB All-Star and two-time NL Reliever of the Year (2016, 2017). In 2019, Jansen became the 30th pitcher to reach 300 career saves. In 2023, he became the 7th pitcher to total 400 career saves.
Early life
Jansen was born in Willemstad, Curaçao,[1] the youngest of three sons of Isidor and Bernadette Jansen.[2] His father worked in construction until suffering a stroke when Kenley was 12; his mother is a travel agent.[2] Jansen grew up as a Braves fan, because the team's games were broadcast in Curaçao on TBS. The team later signed fellow Curaçaoan Andruw Jones and Jansen's older brother Ardley.[3] Kenley Jansen began playing baseball at the age of six, alongside his brothers. He began as an outfielder before moving to shortstop. Jansen then met Andrelton Simmons, and was shifted to third base. He later played first base and catcher.[4]
Baseball career
Minor leagues
Jansen was signed as an undrafted free agent catcher by the Dodgers organization on November 17, 2004,[5] and was assigned to the Rookie Class Gulf Coast Dodgers, where he played in 37 games and hit .304[1] before being promoted to the Ogden Raptors of the Pioneer League on August 26.[6] He had two hits in 11 at-bats in three games for Ogden.[1] He was back with the Gulf Coast team the following season, hitting .245 in 35 games.[1] After the season he played for the North Shore Honu in the Hawaii Winter Baseball League, where he hit .121 in nine games.[6]
Jansen split 2007 between the Raptors and the Class-A Great Lakes Loons of the Midwest League, hitting .207 in 73 games.[1] After the season, he again played in Hawaii Winter Baseball, this time for the West Oahu CaneFires[7] In 2008 with the Loons, he hit .227 and 9 home runs in 79 games.[1] He was selected to the mid-season Midwest League All-Star game.[8]
The Dodgers convinced Jansen that he had no future at catcher because of his poor offensive numbers and that he should switch to pitching. Under the tutelage of former major leaguer Charlie Hough, he made the conversion in the second half of the 2009 season at Inland Empire.[10] He pitched 11+2⁄3 innings for the 66ers, allowing six earned runs.[1] He continued the conversion in the Arizona Fall League for the Peoria Javelinas.[1]
Jansen was added to the Dodgers 40-man roster on November 19, 2009.[11] He started with Inland Empire again and allowed only five runs in 18 innings while striking out 28 batters.[1] On May 15, 2010, he was promoted to the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts, where he was selected to the mid-season Southern League All-Star Game.[12] He pitched 27 innings in 22 games for the Lookouts, with a 1.67 ERA.[1]
Los Angeles Dodgers (2010–2021)
2010
On July 23, 2010, Jansen was promoted to the Dodgers.[13] He made his Major League debut in relief on July 24 against the New York Mets, where he pitched a scoreless inning, retiring all three batters he faced and striking out two.[14] On July 25, Jansen recorded his first Major League save, when he pitched a 1-2-3 inning against the Mets.[15]
On August 26, Jansen walked and scored a run in his first Major League plate appearance, at Miller Park in Milwaukee against Yovani Gallardo of the Brewers[16] and collected his first major league hit on August 31, at Dodger Stadium. The hit was a single up the middle against Kyle Kendrick of the Philadelphia Phillies.[17] Jansen recorded his first win against the Houston Astros on September 11 in Minute Maid Park.[18] He appeared in 25 games with the Dodgers in 2010, working 27 innings with a 1–0 record and a 0.67 ERA. He also saved four games in 2010.[5]
2011
In 2011, Jansen became a key member of the Dodgers' bullpen. He was 2–1 with a 2.85 ERA in 53+2⁄3 innings and saved five games.[5] Jansen also struck out 96 batters, setting a new Major League season record with 16+1⁄3 strikeouts per nine innings.[19]
2012
In May 2012, Jansen became the Dodgers' closer after Javy Guerra struggled in the role.[20] At the end of the season, after missing some time due to heart problems, Jansen was replaced as closer by Brandon League.[21] He appeared in 65 games, compiling a 5–3 record, 2.35 ERA, 99 strikeouts and 25 saves.[5]
Jansen began 2013 as the setup man in the bullpen but resumed the role as closer when League struggled.[22] He was in 75 games with a 4–3 record, 1.88 ERA and 28 saves.[5] He did not allow any runs, in three appearances in the 2013 National League Division Series (NLDS) against the Atlanta Braves[23] but was less effective in the Championship Series (NLCS) against the Cardinals, allowing two runs in two innings.[24]
2014
On February 11, 2014, Jansen avoided his first arbitration hearing by signing a $4.3 million contract with the Dodgers.[25] Fully established as the Dodgers' closer in 2014, Jansen worked in 68 games with a 2.76 ERA, 101 strikeouts and 44 saves.[5] He became just the fourth Dodger pitcher in history with 40+ saves in a season, joining Éric Gagné (who did it three times), Todd Worrell and Jeff Shaw.[26] Jansen only pitched one inning in the NLDS against the Cardinals.[27]
2015
On January 16, 2015, he again avoided arbitration by signing a one-year $7.425 million contract with the Dodgers.[28] However, on February 17, he underwent surgery to remove a growth from a bone in his left foot. The recovery time kept him out of action until May.[29] Jansen was eventually activated off the disabled list on May 15 and rejoined the Dodgers roster.[30] Jansen struck out 23 batters in his first 14 games of the season, without giving up a single walk. This broke Jay Howell's team records (set in the 1991 season) of 13 games without a walk to start a season and 20 strikeouts without a walk to start a season.[31] He wound up striking out 27 before he finally walked a batter on June 30, eight shy of the major league record.[32] He made 54 appearances for the team in 2015 with a 2.41 ERA and 36 saves. He also struck out 80 batters, while only walking 8 all season.[33] He became the first Dodgers pitcher with five seasons of 80 or more strikeouts in relief.[34] He appeared in three games, with two saves in the 2015 NLDS and did not allow a run in 3+2⁄3 innings.[5] In his final year of arbitration, Jansen signed a one-year, $10.65 million, contract with the Dodgers on January 15, 2016.[35]
2016
On June 20, 2016, Jansen picked up his 162nd career save against the Washington Nationals, breaking the all-time franchise record held by Éric Gagné.[36] He was also selected to the National League team for the 2016 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, his first all-star selection.[37] On August 24, 2016, Jansen tied Jim Brewer's franchise record for strikeouts by a reliever with the 604th of his career.[38] In 71 games, he was 3–2 with a 1.83 ERA and 47 saves, earning him the Trevor Hoffman National League Reliever of the Year Award.[39] Of all MLB pitchers, he held right-handed batters to the lowest batting average, .107 (in 30 or more innings).[40] In the 2016 NLDS against the Washington Nationals, Jansen pitched in four games and worked 5+1⁄3 innings, allowing four runs and saving two games.[41] In the 2016 NLCS against the Chicago Cubs he pitched 6+1⁄3 innings over three games, with one save, and struck out 10 while only allowing one hit.[42]
On January 10, 2017, the Dodgers announced the re-signing of Jansen to a five-year, $80 million contract.[43] On June 11, he recorded his 200th career save against the Cincinnati Reds.[44]
On June 2, 2017, Jansen recorded his 36th strikeout of the season, setting an MLB season record for most strikeouts without giving up a walk.[45] The previous record was held by St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright, who struck out 35 batters before giving up a walk in the 2013 season.[46] The streak eventually reached 51 strikeouts before he recorded his first walk of the season on June 25 against the Colorado Rockies.[47] He was named to his second straight All-Star Game.[48] Jansen pitched in 65 games for the Dodgers in 2017, with five wins, a 1.32 ERA, 109 strikeouts (with only seven walks) and 41 saves.[5] For the second straight year, he was awarded the Trevor Hoffman National League Reliever of the Year Award.[49]
Jansen started the playoffs by finishing all three games of the Dodgers 2017 NLDS sweep of the Diamondbacks. He saved two of the games and did not allow an earned run in 3+2⁄3 innings.[5] He pitched 4+1⁄3 innings over four games in the 2017 NLCS against the Cubs and did not allow a batter to reach base while striking out eight.[5] Jansen allowed two runs to score, including a solo homer by Marwin González in Game Two of the 2017 World Series against the Houston Astros. It was his first blown save in the postseason and snapped his MLB record of converting his first 12 post-season save opportunities.[50] In Game Five of the series, he picked up the loss in the Dodgers 10 inning defeat. In his second inning of work, he hit Brian McCann with two outs and then after a walk, he gave up a walk-off single to Alex Bregman.[51] Overall, he pitched 8+2⁄3 innings over six games, with two saves and three runs allowed as the Dodgers lost the series in seven games.[5]
2018
Jansen was bothered by an injury during spring training and was slow-played after his 2017 workload, resulting in two blown saves during a shaky April. He turned it around in May, June, and July and was chosen for his third straight all-star game in 2018.[52]
Jansen's heart problems resurfaced during a four-game set in Colorado, and Jansen was placed on the 10-day disabled list with an irregular heartbeat.[53] He struggled upon returning, losing his first two games back and blowing a save in his third. He struggled for the rest of the season. He finished the season with a 1–5 record, 3.01 ERA and 38 saves.[5]
On April 7, 2019, Jansen recorded a four-out save against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field in Denver.[57] On May 3 and 4, Jansen converted saves against the San Diego Padres.[58] But on May 5, pitching for the third day in a row, Jansen walked a batter and allowed two bunt singles to load the bases with no outs. He retired the next two hitters before he gave up a walk-off grand slam to Hunter Renfroe, as the Dodgers lost 8–5.[59]
Jansen recorded two extended saves in a series against the Mets, with a 5-out save in the first game of the series and a 4-out save in the fourth game.[58] This was his first five-out save since June 2018 in Pittsburgh. He debuted the intentional balk in the top of the ninth against the Chicago Cubs on June 15, 2019. The intentional balk was an idea he came up with bench coach Bob Geren, in which he has a runner on second and two outs and balks the runner to third to prevent the runner from stealing signs.[60] On September 25, in a game against the San Diego Padres, Jansen picked up his 300th career save, becoming the 30th pitcher all time and the first in Dodgers history.[61] He pitched in 62 games, with a 5–3 record and 33 saves, but a career-high ERA of 3.71.[5]
In the 2019 NLDS, Jansen pitched to five batters and did not allow any of them to reach base.[5]
2020
Jansen was late reporting to camp after the pandemic-imposed shutdown, suffering with a COVID-19 infection, which affected his conditioning during the shutdown.[62] He appeared in 24.1 innings over 27 games during the season, with a 3–1 record and a 3.33 ERA with 11 saves (3rd in the NL), while leading the National League with 24 games finished.[5] Jansen pitched one scoreless inning in the first game of the Wild Card Series to pick up the save[63] and in the NLDS he allowed two runs to score in 1+1⁄3 innings.[64] He picked up a save and pitched three perfect innings over three games in the NLCS.[65] In Game 4 of the 2020 World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, Jansen blew his fourth career World Series save, setting a new World Series record.[66]
On August 25, Jansen became the twelfth reliever in MLB history to record 1,000 strikeouts by striking out Austin Nola of the San Diego Padres.[67] Jansen finished the 2021 season with 38 saves, a 2.22 ERA and 86 strikeouts in 69 innings.[5] In the National League Wild Card Game against the St. Louis Cardinals, he struck out three batters in a scoreless ninth inning to record the win[68] and in the 2021 NLDS, he struck out five of the six batters he faced in his two innings of work.[5] In the 2021 NLCS, played against the Atlanta Braves, Jansen, pitched in five of the six games, allowing two hits and one walk while striking out six and recording the save in Game 3.[69]
Atlanta Braves (2022)
Jansen signed a one-year contract worth $16 million with the Atlanta Braves on March 18, 2022.[70][71] He made his Braves debut on April 8, surrendering 3 earned runs in the 9th inning against the Cincinnati Reds in a non-save situation.[72] On April 19, Jansen returned to Dodger Stadium and was met with a mixture of cheers and boos from Dodger fans as he entered the game. He collected the save against his former team, retiring former Brave Freddie Freeman for the final out of the game.[73]
Boston Red Sox (2023–2024)
On December 13, 2022, Jansen signed a two-year contract with the Boston Red Sox.[74] On May 10, 2023, Jansen became the seventh pitcher in MLB history to record 400 saves. He was named to his fourth All-Star Game on July 2, as the lone Red Sox representative.[75] Jansen abruptly left a home game against the Yankees on September 12;[76] the next day, he was placed on the COVID-related injured list;[77] he was reactivated on September 23.[78] For the 2023 season, Jansen notched 29 saves with a 3.63 ERA while striking out 52 batters in 44+2⁄3 innings.[5]
Jansen began the 2024 season as Boston's closer. On April 20, he earned the 425th save of his career, passing John Franco for sole possession of fifth place on the major-league all-time list.[79]
After initially saying he would not pitch in the 2017 tournament, having signed a five-year $80 million contract with the Dodgers in the offseason, Jansen again joined the team when they advanced to the semi-finals.[81] Jansen appeared in the team's game against Team Puerto Rico, which including Dodgers teammate Kiké Hernandez. Jansen pitched a scoreless 9th inning, striking out two, but team Netherlands lost on a walk-off sacrifice fly in the 11th inning.[82] He represented the Netherlands national baseball team at the 2023 World Baseball Classic.[83]
Pitching style
Jansen mid-pitch with the Dodgers in 2015
Jansen relies almost exclusively on a cut fastball that mostly ranges from 90 to 94 miles per hour (mph). Earlier in his career, he was able to throw the pitch at 98 mph, and he exceeded 100 mph in 2014.[84] In 2012, he used this pitch about 93% of the time. His other main pitch is a slider in the low to mid-80s. He experimented with a changeup in the 2009–2011 seasons and debuted a four-seam fastball at the end of the 2012 season. He now throws four-seamer fastballs at 92–96 MPH. Jansen relies both on movement and exceptional command, throwing over 70% strikes.[85]
Jansen has recorded extremely high strikeout rates, garnering 14.6 strikeouts per 9 innings pitched through the 2012 season. This is the second-highest total in history among pitchers who have thrown at least 140 innings (behind only Craig Kimbrel).[86]
Health issues
Jansen was diagnosed in 2011 with an irregular heartbeat (specifically, atrial fibrillation), and he missed some time that season while he was placed on blood thinners to prevent clots. The problem resurfaced late in the 2012 season, and he again missed considerable time while being treated.[87][88] On October 24, 2012, Jansen underwent a 3-hour catheter ablation procedure in which Koonwalee Nademanee identified abnormal tissue in his left atrium and cauterized it to stop it from generating abnormal electrical signals.[89][90][91]
Jansen suffered a recurrence of his irregular heartbeat before a game in Denver on August 9, 2018. He was placed on the 10-day disabled list and the team reported he would likely miss a month of the season.[92] Doctors determined the condition could be controlled with medication until the offseason, so Jansen returned to the hill just 11 days later. However, the heart medication he took, which included beta blockers, had the side effects of leaving him feeling fatigued and unemotional.[93][94] He gave up four home runs in his first two outings back, blowing both save opportunities, and after he protested the effects of his medication his doctors switched him to aspirin.[94][95] Jansen stayed in Los Angeles when the Dodgers returned to Denver in September because he was at high risk of a stroke if he returned to elevation.[57] Jansen completed the season and provided scoreless relief in seven of nine postseason appearances, allowing two runs in 10.2 innings (1.69 ERA).
On November 26, 2018, Jansen underwent a 5+1⁄2-hour heart ablation procedure, again performed by Koonlawee Nademanee, in Los Angeles.[96] After the procedure the doctor told Jansen that small veins near the site of his 2012 procedure had grown and were agitated by dehydration, which caused the irregular signals that occurred in Denver. Jansen dedicated himself to a healthier diet after recovering from the operation and reported to spring training 25 pounds lighter. He no longer has to take blood-thinning medication.[97]
On July 12, 2020, Jansen reported to summer training camp for the first time after recovering from COVID-19.[98]
In June 2022, Jansen again dealt with an irregular heartbeat.[99]
Personal life
Jansen in 2016
Jansen spends most of his off-season break back home in Curaçao.[2] Kenley is married to a Curaçao native named Gianni Jansen-Fransisca. He has two daughters, Natalia Hannah Jansen, who was born on March 16, 2013, and Key’Gia Keziah Jansen born on September 12, 2021, and two sons, Kaden Isaiah Jansen, born on August 16, 2015, and Kyrian Jeremiah Jansen, born on August 22, 2018. He throws right-handed but writes with his left hand.[100] A local team in Curaçao, the Wildcats, have renamed themselves in honor of Jansen, and competed in the Latin American Series as Wildcats KJ74.
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