Maybe It’s Time To Worry About Kenley Jansen
All superheroes have different strengths that set them apart from mankind, as well as from each other. While a lot of these differences are required by copyright and intellectual property laws, they create the unique individualities we know and love: super strength, teleportation, hypersonic speed. And in Kenley Jansen’s case, an almost unhittable 95 mph cut-fastball.
For the last three years, Kenley Jansen has been the absolute best relief pitcher in the game. He has been the Dodgers’ closer, and this guy has definitely closed. Last season, he saved 41 out of 42 games, striking out 109 batters and walking only seven all year. For those who don’t know how ridiculous those numbers are: They are ridiculous.
However, all heroes have a weakness. In some ways, it’s just as important as the strength that defines them.
Superman had kryptonite. It’s not surprising, because a lot of people are crippled by reminders of their childhood. Charles Xavier couldn’t read someone’s mind if they had a helmet on (even though the face was exposed and actually had less bone mass to “penetrate” in order to read minds). And Wonder Woman was only given 70% of the superpowers that her male counterparts received and yet she fought on.
The point is, no matter how great these heroes are, they can be beaten. In the last postseason, and continuing into this season, the great Kenley Jansen started to show some chinks in the armor.
In his last seven outings going back to the World Series against the Astros, he has given up four home runs, walked four batters and given up seven runs. Not good. His pitch velocity is usually around 94-95 mph, but it’s been sagging down around 91 of late.
It’s not just that he’s giving up home runs. It’s who he’s giving them up to. Marwn Gonzalez. Alex Bregman. Joe Panik. Chris Owings. Sure, they’re major league hitters, but this isn’t a Murderer’s Row of sluggers. There’s some power in those bats, so maybe it’s more of an Assault & Battery Row.
Then what is Jansen’s kryptonite? The opposing batters do wear helmets that protect their thoughts, but that wasn’t a problem before. One thing that could be draining his superpowers is the Dodgers abusing him like a fully insured rental car on Spring Break.
Jansen did pitch in six of the seven World Series games and 13 of their 15 playoff games. Multi-inning appearances, high-leverage saves and seemingly unnecessary innings here and there along the way. That sounds exhausting and might have been more than even a superhero could stand.
Maybe that didn’t matter; however, just a few games into this season, Jansen is clearly not his former self. He’s already given up a game-winning home run and blown a three-run lead that ended in another Dodgers loss.
To make things worse, after the most recent game, fans were tweeting a video of Jansen rubbing his shoulder after he came out of the game. That is not a good sign for someone who makes his living with that particular joint. This is a much bigger deal than if there was a video of me rubbing my shoulder after sleeping on that damn pull-out bed at my parents’ house. When will I learn to stop trying to save a few bucks and just get the hotel room?
When asked about his diminished velocity in Spring Training, Kenley responded with “Who cares?”—which is an odd question because the answer is, at least, “the guy asking the question.” But who else cares? Um, the good citizens of Dodgertown care.
Closers have a notoriously short shelf life. Dodgers fans don’t have to look any further than their own Eric Gagne. Another superhuman performer with an electric fastball and video-game changeup. And then he suddenly wasn’t.
Of course, there’s always the exception to the rule. My friends and I used to call Mariano Rivera “The Machine” because he just kept going out there year after year and wrecking other teams’ hopes and dreams.
It’s early in the season. Maybe Jansen is just getting warmed up. In his defense, it has been an unseasonably cold winter. It feels like something is going on here to make him not necessarily bad, but definitely not great.
Sure, Metropolis was a slightly better place because of the quality journalism provided by Clark Kent. But Metropolis didn’t need Clark Kent; it needed Superman. And the Dodgers aren’t winning the World Series without a healthy Kenley Jansen.
