Will Jansen be rewarded for sacrifice?
Catcher has taken a licking and kept on ticking. Now the free agency clock is doing the same
Jordan Romano tells a story about almost killing Danny Jansen: manslaughter by slider.
“That was my first outing in Bluefield (Va., in 2014),” the Blue Jays closer says. “I was super, super nervous. Didn’t really know Jano at the time. I think it was my second batter, bounced my slider. He goes to block it, hits him right in the throat. He could hardly breathe.
“I was like, ‘Oh man, I just hurt the starting catcher.’ Felt really bad.”
Yet, after the game, Jansen invited the pitcher out to dinner.
“That’s where the relationship started,” Romano says about his tight friendship with Toronto’s backstop. “Even after almost killing the guy, he invites me out to eat. I thought that was very nice of him. Made me feel really welcome.”
The incident exemplifies two key factors about the 28-year-old Jansen: his ability to absorb pain by putting himself in the way of errant pitches, and his historical vulnerability to freak injuries — in the crouch, at the plate and on the basepaths.
Since 2021 alone, the breakage, abrasions, contusions and trauma have impaired various body parts, including: hamstring (twice), oblique, finger (twice), groin, forearm, wrist and hand. He was hit by a pitch 10 times last season, more than doubling his career high.
A foul ball off his throwing hand to start September resulted in a fractured right middle finger just above the knuckle. Subsequent surgery, in which a pin was placed in the digit, knocked Jansen out for the remainder of the year, a second season in which he had been among Toronto’s most productive players on a per-plate-appearance rate.
Injuries have typified his career. The 86 games he played 2023 were the second-most he has played in a season.
“A freak one for sure,” Jansen says of his most recent sidelining. “That was just crap luck, really.”
It’s not that he’s particularly fragile; the position has more to do with his injuries, especially to the hands.
“It’s about controlling what I can,” he says. “(I will) take care of my body doing the necessary precautions to make sure I’m prepped for the game, all my muscles and those things, and then just do what I can to keep my hands out of the way with nobody on base. With guys on base, I’ve got to do what I need to do behind the plate. Be able to block, throw. That’s part of the position.”
Those pains and visits to the injured list have been destabilizing, with the amiable and bespectacled Jansen regularly having to rehab. He contends it has made him better for all the agony.
“It’s only made me stronger. Missing time and coming back and trying to pick up where I left off, that’s an accomplishing feeling. It’s not ideal to miss time and to have those injuries but I’m trying to focus on what can I control. Stuff like that’s happened to me but I’m proud of the way I came back and battled and got it going again.”
Jansen was 18 in his first minorleague spring training, 21 his first time as an invitee on the majorleague side, though he had caught some Grapefruit League games and bullpen sessions earlier. He has watched scads of teammates come and go, and been part of the drama of seasons in and out of the playoffs. He has caught upwards of 100 pitchers, 39 in 2019 alone.
He has gone from boy to man to veteran as a Jay.
“I’m grateful for what I’ve learned as a kid coming up and watching guys before me, either at this position or just in the clubhouse, new people coming in. It’s been an awesome experience, as a person, as a player and just trying to use what I’ve learned. If there’s younger catchers, I’ve been in that position.”
There’s no doubt the pitches are at ease with Jansen behind the plate, though a couple prefer throwing to Alejandro Kirk.
“When I’m on the mound, I’m super comfortable with him back there,” Romano says. “It’s comforting for me to know how hard he’s working back there. Like, if I’m going to bounce a slider in the dirt, I know he’s going to do whatever it takes to block it and keep that ball in front of him. I feel like he knows my game sometimes better than I know it.
“I think he’s a master of all faces of catching, whether it’s receiving, blocking, throwing, he’s at the top of the game. I’ve seen the work he’s put in throughout the years and, honestly, I don’t think there’s a weak spot in his game. All three aspects of catching he excels at and he’s a really good hitter, too.”
The prevailing view is that Kirk is the stronger receiver, framer and defender, though neither he nor Jansen were great shakes at catching base stealers last season: Kirk at 18 per cent and Jansen 15 at per cent, as per Baseball Savant. Some regard Kirk as the better hitter: He has a career average of .258 with an OPS of .754, compared to Jansen’s .224 and .743.
Kirk struggled last year after reporting late to spring training as he awaited the birth of his first child — he arrived in poor condition, even for him — batting .250 with just eight home runs, while Jansen went .228 with 17 home runs.
Jansen hits with more power; he has 43 home runs and 38 doubles in 228 games over the past three seasons. He has come to understand his strengths and weaknesses while endlessly tweaking his batting strategy.
“For me, it’s realizing what I do well. I always hit the ball in the air to the pull side. In the past I tried to maybe be a hitter that goes line to line and really, for me, it’s kind of just being able to use (my) strength now.
“I can still hit the ball the other way but my focus is to get the ball in the air to the pull side and I think that’s unlocked some freedom mentally and also physically in my approach, in my swing.”
This is Jansen’s final year before his first shot at free agency. He ducks into clichés to explain his stance and whether he’d welcome renegotiating his contract in Toronto before it expires.
“One day at a time,” he says. “I don’t think any doors are shut.
“I’m extremely thankful for the position I’m in. My focus, my thought, is to stay on the field and to be here with these guys in this clubhouse and this season.”