Despite a league-leading 33 saves, Kenley Jansen’s seven blown saves are tied for second-most in MLB. Check out his stats here.
Kenley Jansen : Blown saves | Fangraphs | Stats
Kenley Geronimo Jansen is a Curaçaoan professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has previously played Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves.
| Born: September 30, 1987 Willemstad, Curaçao |
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Bats: Switch
Throws: Right
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| MLB debut | |
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| July 24, 2010, for the Los Angeles Dodgers |
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 since 2012, and led the National League (NL) in saves in 2017.
After 11 years in the major leagues with the Dodgers, he entered free agency and signed a one-year deal with the Braves.
Kenley Jansen Blown saves
Kenley Jansen knows that you, or at least many of you, are booing from the time he enters a game. Figuratively or perhaps even literally, shouting at your TV sets at the idea that manager Brian Snitker has again chosen to bring in the recently struggling veteran to close out a game.
“You can’t,” said Jansen, who leads the National League with 33 saves, but also was tied for the league lead with seven blown saves, including three blown in seven appearances over a 15-day span through Sunday, when he gave up the tying and winning runs on two solo homers in a gut-wrenching 8-7 loss at Seattle.
Jansen knows this because he’s been there, heard that. Jansen was booed mercilessly on many occasions by huge crowds at Dodger Stadium during some of the roughest stretches in the latter part of his highly accomplished but sometimes frustrating 12-year career with Los Angeles.
A gentle giant of a man off the field, he’s an easy target for jeers on it. Either as a visiting pitcher, when Jansen is shutting down the home squad, the cutter-throwing, slow-working closer with his distinctive, funky, was-that-a-balk? double-hitch delivery.
“Screw you, Kenley,” is one of the nicer things he hears in many road parks.
Or as a home-team pitcher, when he goes through stretches in which he can’t throw strikes consistently or leaves pitches over the plate that get hit.
“Dammit, Snit,” is one of the nicer things some Braves fans say when the manager signals for the big right-hander, or when Snitker says after a difficult outing that it’s a tough game and Jansen is human, then points out he’s saved a whole lot more games than he’s blown.
Kenley jansen Fangraphs
Jansen was signed as an undrafted free agent catcher by the Dodgers organization on November 17, 2004, and was assigned to the Rookie Class Gulf Coast Dodgers, where he played in 37 games and hit .304 before being promoted to the Ogden Raptors of the Pioneer League on August 26. He had two hits in 11 at-bats in three games for Ogden.
He was back with the Gulf Coast team the following season, hitting .245 in 35 games.
After the season he played for the North Shore Honu in the Hawaii Winter Baseball League, where he hit .121 in nine games.
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. Jansen finished the 2021 season with 38 saves, a 2.22 ERA and 86 strikeouts in 69 innings.
Jansen signed a one-year contract worth $16 million with the Atlanta Braves on March 18, 2022.
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.
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.
Stats
Jansen has represented the Netherlands at three of the four World Baseball Classic’s. In 2009, he was the starting catcher for the Netherlands team in the World Baseball Classic.
| MLB statistics (through 2022 season) |
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| Win–loss record | 42–28 |
| Earned run average | 2.46 |
| Strikeouts | 1,107 |
| Saves | 391 |
In the Netherlands’ upset of the favored Dominican Republic team, Jansen threw out Willy Taveras on an attempted steal of third base in the ninth inning, a key play in the game.
Jansen was a late addition to the Netherlands national baseball team for the 2013 World Baseball Classic, he had transitioned to pitching in late 2009, he was added to the roster for the semi-finals but did not appear in the game.
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.
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.
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