Dodger Thoughts

Jon Weisman's outlet for dealing psychologically with the Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball and life

Putting Kenley Jansen’s usage in perspective

LOS ANGELES DODGERS AT ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

By Jon Weisman

Kenley Jansen’s sudden appearance Saturday in a game the Dodgers led 8-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth (the score was 8-5 when he entered, and when he finished four pitches later) added to concerns that Jansen is being overworked early. The Dodger closer leads Major League pitchers with eight appearances.

Keep in mind, however, that Jansen’s totals are skewed by the Dodgers’ Australia start and numerous off days so far. Below is a small chart of Jansen’s appearances, how many days off before each appearance and how many pitches thrown.

Date Days Pitches
3/22 * 15
3/23 0 5
4/1 8 18
4/5 3 22
4/6 0 17
4/8 1 19
4/9 0 19
4/12 2 4
*Opening Day

In only two games this year has Jansen thrown more than five pitches without resting the day before, and he didn’t surpass 20 pitches in either of those games. The second game of the Detroit series on April 9 without a day off was a high-stress outing for April, but essentially that was his only such outing of the year.

While the 77 pitches he threw in five days last week is noteworthy, it’s also an anomaly.

Last year, Jansen pitched 27 games on zero days rest and was pretty amazingly effective, as you’ll see from this Baseball-Reference.com snippet:

KJ rest

This is not to suggest that Jansen should be used recklessly. Just offering some context.

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4 Comments

  1. Just another reason to DFA Brandon League.

    • Really hope that’s the move, or Wright getting his DFA papers, when a move needs to be made for Wilson

  2. “a high stress outing”…. Is that an actual statistical definition?

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