Dodgers must let Kenley Jansen work through his struggles
The Dodgers no longer have an elite closer in Kenley Jansen. They must let the former all-star closer work through his struggles.
Friday night, the Dodgers blew another game after Kenley Jansen failed to convert a save for the fifth time this season. Jansen is now 26-31 in save opportunities this season and while his closer job doesn’t appear to be in jeopardy yet, Dave Roberts was blunt about what happened after the game stating that his closer lacked life on his pitches.
Statistically speaking, Kenley is not having a bad season but it is certainly a subpar season for his standards. He has a .218 opponent’s average and 1.07 WHIP which would be good for many relievers but not for Kenley Jansen. Much like Clayton Kershaw, Jansen has simply lost velocity but unlike Kershaw, Jansen has struggled with command.
At his peak, Jansen would come out of the bullpen, sling 94-96 MPH cutters across the plate and more often than not his outings would end with “I Love LA” blaring out of the stadium speakers. While that once seemed like a certainty whenever he jogged out of the left-field bullpen, these days there is a sudden uncertainty that comes with his outings.
Some outings, Kenley has better velocity than others. Last night in a non-save situation, he sat at 93-94 MPH with the cutter after being primary around 91-92 a night before. Saturday’s outing was a much better outing for Kenley who has been working on his mechanics.
After blowing a save on May 5th that was aided by poor bunt defense execution, Kenley put together a strong June going 6-7 in save opportunities but July and August have been unkind. After posting a 5.63 ERA in July, Jansen has an ERA of 9.00 across two August innings. The main culprit for Jansen has been poor command of his cutter.
The cutter was once the bread and butter pitch for Kenley Jansen. It used to be a pitch he threw over 88% of the time, but this season, he has learned to throw it less and rely on other pitches. This season, Jansen has thrown his cutter 77% of the time but in July and August, he has thrown it around 63% of the time.
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Kenley has realized his cutter isn’t what it once was and is now throwing his slider more and even mixing in a sinker. The slider has been thrown 24% of his pitches in August and 16% of his pitches in July. Those are both career highs so it’s clear that Kenley Jansen who is known as stubborn, is trying to adjust.
Jansen’s cutter has been worse this season than it has at any point in his career. Fangraphs has his cutter at a career-worst -1.6 pitch value. The good news for Jansen is that his slider is rated at a career-best, 4.2. Great pitchers find ways to work through what they currently have, so for the Dodgers’ franchise save leader, he must do the same.
Due to their large lead in the NL West, the Dodgers have the luxury of letting players work through their struggles. This is why they should keep Kenley Jansen in the closer role at least for the next few weeks and see if he can work through his struggles. If he can’t then they have September to work through their roles with Pedro Baez and Joe Kelly the favorites for the “closer role”.
Although it’s tough to see as Dodger fans, Kenley Jansen is no longer the elite closer that he once was. It doesn’t mean he is finished, but it does mean he has to adjust as he has been trying to do over the last few months. Now the club must let him try to put him together, or get him out of the closer role.