Kenley Jansen earns reliever of the year award

With the season he had, this doesn’t really come as a surprise. Kenley Jansen has earned the Trevor Hoffman award as the best reliever of the National League for the second year in a row.

In 65 appearances, Kenley had 42 save opportunities of which he converted 41 into saves. On top of that, he clinched five victories and did not get a loss for the Dodgers. In just 68.1 innings, Kenley posted incredible numbers. 109 strikeouts, a 109/7 K/BB ratio, he kept his opponents limited to a batting average of .177 and his WHIP stood at a microscopic 0.75.

Not bad for a guy, who started as a catcher and gunned down a lot of potential base stealers. But as a catcher, he couldn’t hit. When the Dodgers saw the potential of his throwing arm, they asked him if he wanted to convert into a reliever. Reluctantly he agreed. The rest is history.

The 2009 season was a strange one. During that year’s World Baseball Classic, he still played as a catcher, but later that year, during the World Cup organized by the IBAF (back then the leading federation of baseball), Jansen already took the mound for the Netherlands.

The 2017 season was his best full season so far. Only in 2010 he did better ERA and batting average wise but he appeared in only 25 games and was mainly not used as a closer.