Toronto Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen is headed to the injured list (again) after suffering a small fracture in the pisiform bone between his right wrist and hand, manager John Schneider announced Friday.
The injury occurred in the seventh inning of Wednesday’s exhibition contest against the Pittsburgh Pirates when Jansen was struck on the wrist by a 93.4-m.p.h. four-seamer by right-hander Carmen Mlodzinski. He was removed from the game for a pinch-runner, fellow backstop Phil Clarke.
Schneider told reporters, including Sportsnet’s Hazel Mae, that the team expects Jansen to miss at least two weeks and will open this season on the IL. He’s scheduled for a follow-up appointment to determine an exact recovery timeline.
Danny Jansen has broken a small bone between the wrist and hand vs PITT and will be out 2 weeks.
Serven/Henry will back-fill for the time being. pic.twitter.com/Nop8lKnMGt
— Hazel Mae (@thehazelmae) March 15, 2024
Staying healthy has proven quite the challenge for Jansen, unfortunately. The 28-year-old has made countless trips to the IL in recent years, limiting him to fewer than 100 games played each season since 2019, where he logged a career-high 107 contests.
Many of them, however, have been fluky ailments caused by hit-by-pitches or foul-tip deflections off an opponent’s bat while catching behind the plate. This most recent one becomes his third IL stint related to a hand or wrist fracture since the 2022 campaign.
The Blue Jays slugging backstop, a 16th-round selection in 2013, has also missed time due to forearm, groin, hamstring and oblique injuries over the past three seasons.
Not having Jansen to begin this season is a considerable loss for Toronto’s lineup, which has benefited from his pull-side power approach numerous times since his breakout 2019 performance. But the positive news, if there is any, is that he shouldn’t miss too many regular-season games with 13 days until Opening Day.
As Jansen recovers, teammate Alejandro Kirk will likely handle the brunt of the catching duties, a role he should be more than accustomed to by now. Backing him up will either be Brian Serven – claimed off waivers from the Chicago Cubs last January – or Payton Henry, neither of whom is currently on the 40-man roster.
Serven has impressed thus far in camp, as he’s gone 5-for-16 (.313 AVG) while crushing three home runs and driving in 12 across nine Grapefruit League contests this spring. The 28-year-old, who spent last season with the Colorado Rockies, appeared to be the leading candidate to assume the club’s third-string catching position – previously served by Tyler Heineman – prior to Jansen’s injury.
Returning as quickly as possible will be crucial for Jansen, especially considering he’ll become a free agent after this season. The veteran catcher is the second-longest tenured Blue Jay on the roster, trailing only Tim Mayza, who made his big-league debut in 2017.
Jansen sits among the top home run-hitting catchers since 2019, with his 62 bombs ranking ninth in the sport. He’s also accomplished that feat in just 1,285 plate appearances, the second-fewest inside the top 10, ahead of only Mitch Garver’s 1,242.
Last season, the 6-foot-2 backstop set career-highs in home runs (17) and RBIs (53) while slashing .228/.312/.474 with a 116 wRC+ over 86 games, worth 2.0 fWAR. He also caught 576.2 innings behind the plate, second only to his 852.2 innings of work in 2019.
ARTICLE PRESENTED BY BETANO
