The Los Angeles Dodgers suffered a bit of a scare on Friday as All-Star closer Kenley Jansen was scheduled to make his first Cactus League appearance of the spring, but that didn’t wind up happening.
As the innings went by, Jansen never got into the game, and it was later revealed that he was scratched from pitching due to hamstring tightness that he suffered warming up for the game.
The injury was not believed to be a serious one as manager Dave Roberts said that Janasen was held back for precautionary weekends, and he would get back on the mound in a ‘B’ game on Monday before pitching in his first Cactus League a couple days after that.
Jansen confirmed that on Saturday, as he said his hamstring is feeling better and the plan is to again take the mound on a backfield, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen, scratched from a scheduled relief appearance on Friday, reported improvement in his left hamstring and said he plans to pitch in a “B” game on Monday.
The plan all along was to slow-play Jansen this spring he pitched a career-high 85 innings in 2017 between the regular and postseason.
So even though you never want to see a player injured, even if it is just a minor one, Jansen still has plenty of time to get ready for Opening Day.
Jansen will likely only need about two outings in Cactus League games, along with a few other outings on the backfields sprinkled in to stay sharp and be fully prepared.
The 30-year-old is coming off his second straight All-Star season, winning the Trevor Hoffman Award that’s given to the best National League reliever each year.
