(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
   Kenley Jansen becomes seventh Major League-pitcher with 400 saves
Nederlands
 ATLANTA, Georgia (USA) -
Curaçao-born closer Kenley Jansen reached a milestone on Wednesday (May 10), as he earned the 400th save in his Major League-career.
Jansen, who this season (his 14th in the Majors) pitches for Boston Red Sox, became only the seventh pitcher in Major League-history to accomplish this feat.
...Kenley Jansen with the...
...Netherlands Team during the...
...2017 World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
The all-time save-leader is Mariano Rivera, who earned 652 saves in his 18-year career in which he only played for New York Yankees.
He is followed by Trevor Hoffman (601 in 18 seasons), Lee Smith (478 in 18 seasons), Francisco Rodríguez (437 in 16 seasons), John Franco (424 in 21 seasons) and Billy Wagner (422 in 16 seasons).
Rivera, Hoffman and Smith all were elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The 35-year old Kenley Jansen reached the historic save-milestone in an away-game against Atlanta Braves, for whom he played last season.
The righthander threw the final inning in a 5-2 win and struckout one batter to earn his ninth save of the season and the 400th in his career.
In an interview after the game, Jansen said:
,,It's just surreal.
I can say today I'm the seventh guy who did that.
With baseball being around for so long, it’s unbelievable.
I’m just going to continue to let this keep motivating me and keep striving for more''.
Afterwards in the clubhouse, there was a video tribute with messages for Jansen from several people, including former Dodger-teammate Clayton Kershaw, but also fellow-Curaçaon players Ozzie Albies, Jurickson Profar, Jonathan Schoop and Andruw Jones.
Albies plays for Atlanta Braves, Profar for Colorado Rockies and Schoop for Detroit Tigers.
Jones was Jansen's idol and played in 17 Major League-seasons, including twelve with Atlanta.
Kenley Jansen originally was a catcher, but he was converted into a pitcher during the 2009 season.
In that year, he played in both positions for the Netherlands National Team.
In March 2009, he was one of the catchers of the Orange Team during the World Baseball Classic.
Later in the year, Jansen was one of the pitchers during the World Championship.
Jansen made his Major League-debut in 2010 with Los Angeles Dodgers for whom he played through 2021.
Last year, he played in his lone season for Atlanta Braves and then led the National League with 41 saves.
In December, Jansen signed a 2-year contract with Boston Red Sox, worth 32 million dollars.
In 2012, Jansen became the prime closer for Los Angeles.
During the 2016 season, the righthander became the all-time save-leader of the club when he earned his 162nd save, taking over the record from Éric Gagné.
In the 2017 season, Jansen set a MLB-record by striking out 51 batters without walking one.
The old record was 35.
And during the 2021 season, his last with the Dodgers, he became the twelfth reliever with 1,000 strikeouts.
In his twelve seasons with Los Angeles, Jansen earned 350 saves.
Jansen was selected for the All-Star Game three times (2016, 2017, 2018) and was named Reliever of the Year in the National League twice (2016, 2017).
And he led the league in saves twice (2017, 2022).
(May 10)
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