Kenley Jansen needed little introduction when the Detroit Tigers signed the 38-year-old closer to a free agent deal back in December. He’s one of the truly great relievers in the game’s long history. The one year, $9 million deal was a pretty reasonably price for an all-time great even on the downside of his career. The Tigers also have a $12 million option on Jansen for 2027 to exercise should they choose. As a result, the Tigers’ faithful in Comerica Park on Tuesday night got to see a little history as Jansen closed
out the Royals for his 479th save, seizing third place on the all-time saves list behind Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman.
Jansen’s career is a pretty incredible story. The Curacao native was originally signed as a catcher. He didn’t hit enough as a minor leaguer to make it as a position player, but he was gifted with a strong throwing arm. At a certain point, a Dodgers coach suggested he try pitching, and Jansen discovered that the over-the-top motion favored by catchers to deliver a straight ball to the bases on stolen base attempts had given him a gift. Much like Mariano Rivera, who discovered his magic cutter by accident, Jansen too was quickly throwing a true unicorn of a cutter. There are plenty of high velocity cutters around the game, but none of them combine the late cutting action of Jansen’s pitch with extremely good riding action. It’s a true cut fastball, the likes of which have rarely been seen in the game, and Jansen has ridden that pitch to a Hall of Fame caliber career.
I wrote about the cut fastball during the offseason, so we won’t go on about it again, but you can read that article here.
Of course, this is all well and good, but after two postseason appearances, and with the expectation of losing Tarik Skubal in free agency, the fanbase wants present results, not individual player history. The Tigers fanbase has a rough relationship with the idea of signing a great closer in the later years of their career. We don’t even speak of Joe Nathan in my household. Jose Valverde got the job done for a while, and even Francisco Rodriguez had a pretty good season in Detroit before things finally fell apart for him. But the Tigers haven’t had an elite closer in their prime arguably since Joel Zumaya.
There were understandably some fears about Jansen, in particular the notion of making him the dedicated closer rather than mixing and matching between him, Will Vest, and Kyle Finnegan the way AJ Hinch has had to use his fairly makeshift bullpens over the past few years. Jansen still has the outrageous cut fastball, but it’s not the same quality of pitch at 92.8 mph, his 2025 average, as it was when he was sitting 95+ for all those years with the Dodgers. On the other hand, Jansen still has a lot of extra tools to get hitters out, from his size, distinct high arm slot, ability to hide the ball until late in his delivery, and his ability to post up on his right leg and wait different beats before delivering the ball, and still doing all that with good command. He’s also developed a sinker into an occasional change of pace weapon to jam right-handers, and a pretty good slider with a lot of depth to play off the eyeline of the cut fastball.
Still, with his strikeout rate in decline over the last two years, it’s reasonable to expect that Jansen is just a good reliever these days, and certainly no one special. The fact that he averaged about 92 mph in his first few outings for the Tigers wasn’t real encouraging. However, there was a very good sign on Tuesday night, as Jansen dialed the cut fastball up to 96 mph and topped out at 96.8 mph. He only threw 10 pitches 96 mph or better last season. On Monday night, he topped 96 five different times and that 96.8 mph cutter in the ninth was his fastest recorded pitch since 2024. Jansen doesn’t need to throw that hard to be really good, but he’s a much more imposing pitcher when he’s 94 mph or better.
Way back on July 25, 2010, Kenley Jansen collected the very first save of his career, closing out a victory for the Dodgers over the New York Mets. He took over after an eight inning scoreless performance by young Dodgers’ ace, Clayton Kershaw. His catcher that day was Russell Martin. Almost 16 years later, he racked up save number 479 throwing to Dillon Dingler. That save lifted him above Lee Smith (478) to rank third all-time.
It’s been a truly remarkable career, and Jansen’s work ethic and drive have sustained him far longer than anyone could have imagined. Detroit Tigers’ fans will hope he’s got plenty more in the tank, not to reach the 500 saves plateau, or somehow catch Trevor Hoffman at 601, but to help the Tigers put together a special season.
