‘I LIKE ANGRY KENLEY’
Pitching with a chip on his shoulder, Jansen has found a way to ‘start fresh again’
LOS ANGELES » Kenley Jansen is not feeling the love this year.
From the closer’s first appearance at Dodger Stadium this season, that was obvious. After years of jogging in from the bullpen with fans dancing to the party-time sensibilities of “California Love,” Jansen is now walking in to a different Tupac Shakur song, “2 of Americaz Most Wanted” with its thoroughly NSFW lyrics.
“Just a new beginning,” Jansen said by way of explanation. “It’s time. It’s time to just start fresh again.”
Jansen’s career has been about ending things. But he does seem to be refreshed.
Over his past four outings, Jansen has
faced 16 batters and allowed one hit (a single) while walking two and striking out nine.
The velocity that has been in decline for four years has ticked back up. Twice in the ninth inning of Tuesday’s game in Seattle, Jansen hit 97 mph on the radar gun. According to brooksbaseball.net, they were the hardest pitches Jansen has thrown since June 2018.
And the movement to his cutter has returned. According to Statcast, Jansen is averaging 3.8 inches of vertical movement on his cutter this year and has the highest spin rate on it since Statcast began tracking the measurement in 2015.
“He’s looking really good. We’re kind of getting glimpses of old Kenley,” Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes said Tuesday.
Whatever has fueled Jansen’s recent revival — two years of focus on his mechanics, a new workout regimen this past winter, a year to recover from a bout with COVID-19 — anger seems to be one element, as reflected in the choice of soundtrack.
“Yeah. Gotta be angry. Enough is enough, you know,” Jansen said when asked if he was “pitching angry.”
“Sometimes you just put a little bit more into it . ... You want to get better. And sometimes anger helps. Sometimes it doesn’t.”
Jansen said the anger is directed at “myself — it’s Kenley vs. Kenley.” But he could have a few outside targets for it as well.
The franchise’s all-time saves leader is in the final year of his contract with the Dodgers and there has been no indication that the team is eager to offer him a new one. And fans on social media have been quick to take Jansen’s job as closer away, preferring any number of Dodgers relievers to replace him in that role.
When he walked the first batter he faced in a game last week, the grumbling in the stands was clear, even breaking into some actual boos.
“I ain’t perfect. I’m trying to win a ballgame. I don’t want to come in walking guys,” he said afterward. “That’s not what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to win ballgames. We all want to win here. That’s just nonsense. That’s just noise. So I’m going to continue to work my (butt) off and help the Dodgers win a championship. That’s why I’m here.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts jokes that Jansen “should pitch angry. I like that. I like ‘Angry Kenley’” if it produces such positive results.
Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner has been Jansen’s teammate for eight years now, through good times and bad. He doesn’t think Jansen is pitching angry but he recognizes that Jansen has internalized a lot of the “noise” surrounding him.
“I think he’s pitching maybe with a little bit of a chip on his shoulder,” Turner said. “Everyone’s kind of aware of what he went through last year and some of the negativeness around him. He wants to prove that he’s still an elite closer. He wants the ball in the ninth inning and he wants to be the guy shutting the door.
“So when you hear that noise, as much as you try to block it out and not listen to it, you still feel that. So he’s pitching like he’s got something to prove and it’s good for him.”
Downtime is also good for the 33-year-old Jansen. Limited though the sample size is, it seems obvious Jansen is at his best with two or more days of rest. Hitters are 0 for 17 with eight strikeouts against him in those situations. With a deep bullpen featuring a pair of former All-Star closers (Corey Knebel, Blake Treinen), a “college of closers” is possible as the long season unwinds, allowing Roberts to avoid using Jansen with the frequency of previous seasons so that “Angry Kenley” keeps his edge through October.
“We’ll see. I think most pitchers fit in that category,” Roberts said. “There are certain game situations with respect to how other guys are being used. You have to still go out there and pitch. It’s not a hard and fast he doesn’t go back to back. We’ll evaluate as the season goes forward.”
For all the discontent roiling around Jansen from outside the organization, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said this winter, “I think we are the best version of ourselves when it’s Kenley” closing out games. It certainly helps if Jansen is also the best version of himself.
“They know, man. They know what they’re doing,” Jansen said of the confidence Friedman and Roberts have expressed in him.
“Sometimes, this game can be hard. And one thing I know, I don’t give up. I just continue to work hard until the day I can’t play anymore.”