Kenley Jansen has been a really good closer for a really long time.
The Los Angeles Angels right-hander isn’t planning on stopping anytime soon, either.
Jansen told the Orange County Register’s Jeff Fletcher that he plans to pitch at least four more seasons after this one. He’ll turn 38 in September, which means that would take him through the 2029 season and into his early-40s.
There are almost certainly some milestones in his sights.
Jansen ranks fourth in MLB history with 467 saves. He’s just 11 behind third-place Lee Smith.
Trevor Hoffman ended with 601, and Mariano Rivera had 652.
It’d be really tough for Jansen to chase down those two guys. But he’s only a season’s worth of saves away from the 500-save club, which would be a pretty remarkable place to get to.
He’s still an effective pitcher, with a 2.79 ERA this season and 20 saves in 21 chances.
Jansen’s cutter is still doing it’s thing, and he’s currently on a run of 18.1 consecutive scoreless innings.
It’s an incredible story, really. Jansen was a catcher in the minor leagues who wasn’t going to be good enough to reach the majors.
Then they put him on the mound, he discovered a near-unhittable cutter, and the rest is history.
Now he’s thinking about doing it for another handful of years, which is quite the goal but also seems somewhat achievable. At this point, Jansen seems like he could keep tossing that cutter for outs forever.
What makes this different is that most closers don’t age this well. But Jansen’s approach has always been built around command and location rather than just pure velocity. That’s why he’s been able to maintain effectiveness even as he’s gotten older.
The way I see it, if he can stay healthy and keep that cutter sharp, there’s no reason he can’t reach some of those milestones. Getting to 500 saves seems like a lock at this point. Beyond that? We’ll see what happens.
