With Kenley Jansen coming off a remarkable 2017 campaign and postseason that saw him pitch multiple innings on several occasions, the Los Angeles Dodgers essentially held him out of Spring Training the following year.
That wound up doing Jansen more harm than good, as his velocity and command suffered come the regular season. Jansen never quite found his footing in 2018, and efforts to do so were undermined when he experienced another bout with an irregular heartbeat.
Jansen ultimately underwent a second heart procedure in the offseason and upon receiving a clean bill of health, vowed to have a much different workload this spring. Although he’s yet to resemble his dominant self from a couple seasons back, Jansen has been improved from this time last year.
Though, there have still been some bumps along the way. The latest of which was Jansen surrendering a game-tying three-run home run to Eric Thames, giving him his first blown save of the season.
The Dodgers’ closer returned to the mound in the ninth inning and struck out the side to earn the win, and later deemed his pitch to Thames a mental mistake. Despite some recent bumps, Jansen is comfortable with his results, per Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“It’s not like I’m walking people left and right, my strikeout rate is down, batting average against is, like, 4.000. It’s not like I’m getting my brains beat out. Listen, it’s okay, man. … You make mistakes. You learn from them and you move on.”
“It’s early, I only have 11 innings,” he said. “As a reliever, you’re going to see the ERA at 3.00 or whatever. It’s easy for people to say he’s struggling. No, I’m not. My batting average (against) is below .200. My WHIP is below 1.00. Slugging is below .300.”
Jansen enters play Wednesday with a 3.09 ERA that would be a career worst. Thames’ home run was the second he’s allowed over 11.2 innings pitched. Last season, Jansen surrendered a career-high 13 homers.
Meanwhile, as Jansen noted, his 34.8% strikeout rate is up from 2018, and walk rate has decreased from 5.9% to 4.4%.
Though Jansen has allowed five runs (four earned) in his last six appearances, he’s 2-0 with seven saves in eight opportunities.
