Kenley Jansen: The Dodgers’ Greatest Closer

Kenley Jansen has saved the Dodgers – in fact, he has saved them 200 times since he began pitching for the franchise in 2010.  And to think that Jansen almost didn’t even become a pitcher – starting in the minors on the opposite side of the dish as a catcher.  Now, Kenley Jansen has become the greatest closer in Dodgers history having recorded his 200th save on Sunday afternoon following a late inning grand slam by Corey Seager.

Prior to Kenley Jansen, the Dodgers had not had a consistent closer since Eric Gagné (’99-’06) who set a previous franchise record with 162 saves and a current MLB record of 84 consecutive saves before being released when his contract ended in 2006.  Following Gagné’s release Takashi Saito, the 37-year-old pitcher from Japan, took on the role for a few years until he became a free agent after the 2008 season and signed with the Boston Red Sox.  In 2009 the position was turned over to Jonathan Broxton until the Dodgers signed rookie Javy Guerra in 2011.  When Guerra didn’t pan out as the Dodgers had hoped Jansen assumed the role and became the official closer in 2012.

Jansen was mediocre at best upon taking on his new position as closer.  It wasn’t until 2014 when Kenley recorded 44 saves that he really began to develop (becoming only the 4th Dodgers’ pitcher to save at least 40 games in a season and only the 2nd Dodgers’ closer to do it at least twice).  So far this season, Kenley has 11 saves in as many opportunities and an MLB record of 43 strikeouts and no walks.  He is also ranked 49th overall in career saves.

The “save” was first talked about amongst experts and fans beginning in the 1952 season; however, it did not become an official baseball stat until 1969.  Since that time, the record for most career saves was set by New York Yankees closer, Mariano Rivera, with 652.  Rivera spent all 19 seasons with the Yankees and 17 of those as their closer.  To put Jansen’s success into perspective, at the end of Rivera’s 8th season he had 243 saves and was almost 33 years old.  The 29-year-old Jansen is currently in his 8th season and appears to be keeping pace with Rivera.  As long as Jansen stays healthy and can continue pitching at his exceptional level, it seems that the MLB could be looking at their future all-time save leader.

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