The Dodgers have had no problem this year with position players and starting pitchers stealing the spotlight day after day.
With a pitching staff containing Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke, reliever Kenley Jansen often becomes the second topic of
conversation.
Jansen has 25 saves in 28 attempts, and has reached 100 strikeouts for the first time in his career. Aroldis Chapman,
who leads the league for relief pitchers, currently has 101 strikeouts.
With a 1.97 ERA and a .173 batting average against, Jansen gets batters to swing and miss on his cutter 28% of the time
(MLB Avg: 17%). Similar to Mariano Rivera who throws a cutter 87% of pitches, Jansen has been dominating with his 90-94
MPH cutter 86% of pitches thrown.
He has not yet proven himself to be in a class with the Yankees reliever, but his cutter has a huge amount of horizontal
break resembling that of Rivera. This GIF of a Jansen cutter
on Paul Goldschmidt demonstrates the remarkable amount of movement he gets on the pitch.
Although the horizontal movement between Jansen and Rivera is similar, the amount of rotation on each pitch differs greatly.
Below is a chart showing the spin of each pitch type between the two pitchers. As shown, Jansen gets 20% more spin on his
cutter than Rivera does, and 31% more spin on his fastball. Even though Rivera is older, the rpm on pitches this year is
similar to what it has been in years past.
Both pitchers throw some of the fastest cutters in the league, but with more spin, Jansen is able to increase his
velocity compared to Rivera. Jansen has topped out at 97.5 MPH this year and throws 34% of his fastballs at 96 MPH or faster.
His fastball may not be his strikeout pitch, but batters are hitting only 2 for 13 (.154) off of it.
Jansen has given up only 2 runs in his last 19 appearances and is pitching much better now than he did earlier in the year.
He was not always a cutter-heavy pitcher, but this Rivera-like approach has been beneficial to him and his team as the Dodgers
look to make a run at the World Series. Kershaw and Greinke may get the headlines, but it is the relief work of Jansen that
helps the Dodgers win close games.
NOTE: All statistics accurate as of 9/8/13
By Danny Malter
AriBall.com
