Kenley Jansen
Biography
BIOGRAPHY
Kenley Geronimo Jansen was born on September 30, 1987, in Willemstad, Curaçao. He is a pitcher in the MLB.
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.
Jansen was signed as an undrafted free agent catcher b...
Kenley Geronimo Jansen was born on September 30, 1987, in Willemstad, Curaçao. He is a pitcher in the MLB.
Jansen began playing baseball at the age of six, alongside his brothers. He began as an outfielder before moving to shortstop. Jansen then m...
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1987-09-30 (Age: 36) Willemstad, CUW
July 24, 2010
BIOGRAPHY
Kenley Geronimo Jansen was born on September 30, 1987, in Willemstad, Curaçao. He is a pitcher in the MLB.
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.
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, before being promoted to the Ogden Raptors of the Pioneer League on August 26. He was back with the Gulf Coast team the following season; after the season he played for the North Shore Honu in the Hawaii Winter Baseball League. Jansen split 2007 between the Raptors and the Class-A Great Lakes Loons of the Midwest League. After the season, he again played in Hawaii Winter Baseball, this time for the West Oahu CaneFires. In 2008 with the Loons, he was selected to the mid-season Midwest League All-Star game.
In 2009, he was the starting catcher for the Netherlands team in the World Baseball Classic. He began 2009 with the Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino; he appeared in eight games for the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes. He was convinced to switch from catcher to pitcher, he made the conversion in the second half of the 2009 season at Inland Empire, and continued the conversion in the Arizona Fall League for the Peoria Javelinas.
Jansen was added to the Dodgers 40-man roster on November 19, 2009. 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. On July 23, 2010, Jansen was promoted to the Dodgers. He made his Major League debut in relief on July 24 against the New York Mets. He appeared in 25 games with the Dodgers in 2010, and he also saved four games in 2010.
In May 2012, Jansen became the Dodgers closer, he appeared in 65 games. Jansen was a late addition to the Netherlands national baseball team for the 2013 World Baseball Classic, as he was added to the roster for the semi-finals but did not appear in the game. He began 2013 as the setup man in the bullpen but resumed the role as closer when League struggled. On February 11, 2014, he avoided his first arbitration hearing by signing a contract with the Dodgers; fully established as the Dodgers closer in 2014, Jansen worked in 68 games.
On January 16, 2015, he again avoided arbitration by signing a one-year contract with the Dodgers. He made 54 appearances for the team in 2015 and struck out 80 batters. In his final year of arbitration, Jansen signed a one-year contract with the Dodgers on January 15, 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. He was also selected to the National League team for the 2016 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, his first all-star selection, and earning him the Trevor Hoffman National League Reliever of the Year Award.
On January 10, 2017, the Dodgers announced the re-signing of Jansen to a five-year contract. On June 11, he recorded his 200th career save against the Cincinnati Reds. 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; the streak eventually reached 51 strikeouts before he recorded his first walk of the season on June 25 against the Colorado Rockies. He was named to his second straight All-Star Game. Jansen pitched in 65 games for the Dodgers in 2017, for the second straight year, he was awarded the Trevor Hoffman National League Reliever of the Year Award.
Jansen was chosen for his third straight all-star game in 2018. On April 7, 2019, Jansen recorded a four-out save against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field in Denver.
Jansen pitched one scoreless inning in the first game of the 2020 Wild Card Series to pick up the save and in the NLDS he allowed two runs to score in 1+1⁄3 innings. He picked up a save and pitched three perfect innings over three games in the NLCS that year. The Dodgers would go on to win the World Series.
On August 25, 2021, 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. He was the winning pitcher in the National League Wild Card Game over the St. Louis Cardinals.
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.
In December of 2022, he signed a 2 year deal with Boston Red Sox worth $32 million.
