Kenley Jansen wasn’t messing around in Saturday’s Freeway Series battle.
Facing his former team up by two runs in the ninth inning, Jansen was one out away from sealing an Angels victory over the Dodgers when he did something unusual … at least for most pitchers.
With Shohei Ohtani on second base and Mookie Betts at the plate, Jansen seemingly mouthed “I’m balking you to third [base],” to Ohtani. In other words, Jansen issued an intentional balk, which wouldn’t be the first time the longtime closer has issued this move.
And after the game, Jansen confirmed he did it because he didn’t want Ohtani to signal to Betts where catcher Logan O’Hoppe was setting up.
“I definitely wanted the intentional balk there,” Jansen said. “With Mookie hitting, Shohei at second, I thought it was best for him to be at third. I didn’t want him seeing any of the locations where Logan is sitting. So that was definitely the plan there.”
Back in 2019 with the Dodgers, Jansen executed an intentional balk to prevent sign stealing. The idea came from then-Dodgers bench coach Bob Geren, who is still with the club as their Major League field coordinator. Jansen said he liked Geren’s idea and implemented it six years ago and still uses it when he thinks it’s necessary.
“I think we mutually agree about that,” Jansen said. “Because I feel like back then [before PitchCom], you just never knew. When we’d play [some] teams, they’d give a lot of locations.”
Given the situation in Saturday’s game, it made perfect sense that Jansen would make this move. Nonetheless, seeing an intentional balk in a close-and-late game will still take some getting used to. But it worked, as Jansen improved to a perfect 8-for-8 in saves opportunities this year and leads all active closers with 455 career saves in 16 seasons, including his first 12 with the Dodgers.
