Kenley Jansen is a three-time Major League Baseball All-Star who plays as a pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team he has played for since his debut in 2010 having previously signed with the franchise as a teenager.
The Curacoan, who are known for their fast cuts that reach a top speed of 98 mph, are also a two-time National League Saver of the Year award winner and also led the National League in saves in 2017.
the biography
On September 30, 1987, in Willemstad, Curacao, Bernadette Jansen, travel agent, and Isidor Jansen, construction worker, welcomed the last of their three boys, Kenley Geronimo Jansen. From an early age, Jansen began to show exceptional talent playing baseball with his brothers. He first played as an outside player before moving to shortstop, then third and first base before finally settling on the catcher position.
Kenley Jansen reportedly won a lot of admirers for his teenage talent. Just as he was graduating from high school in 2004, the Los Angeles Dodgers signed him as an undrafted free agent to play catcher. Upon joining the team, the Dodgers assigned him to its rookie minor league affiliate, the Gulf Coast Dodgers, where he began to make a name for himself by making it to the majors.
Jansen spent time with the Gulf Coast Dodgers before he was promoted to the Ogden Raptors of the Pioneer League. He then spent a season playing for the North Shore Honu in the Hawaii Winter Baseball League before joining the Raptors in 2007. While playing for the Raptors, Jansen also competed in Grade A of the Great Lakes Loons of the Midwest League before returning. in Hawaii, this time with the West Oahu CaneFires.
In 2009, Kenley Jansen’s parent team convinced him to switch to catch pitching due to his low numbers. The player immediately enjoyed a career upswing that earned him a spot on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster in November 2009, although he ultimately didn’t make the team as he was sent off again in the Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino. A few months later, Jansen was promoted to the Double-A Chattanooga Look lookout where he pitched 27 innings in 22 games, going 1.67 silver to earn permanent promotion to the Dodgers team for the 2010 season, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Salary
Kenley Jansen has come a long way since the time he signed the first contract of his Major League Baseball career, a one-year, $416,000 contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2011. His last contract, a contract five-year, $80 million deal that concluded in December 2016, definitely puts him among the top earners on the team. He will see him receive an average annual salary of $16 million.
Kenley Jansen’s family – wife
Kenley Jansen had the pleasure of fighting life with his wife, Gianni Jansen. The couple, both from the island of Curacao, married in 2016, months after welcoming their first child together, a son named Kaden Isaiah Jansen, who was born on August 16, 2015. On August 22, 2018 , Gianni and Kenley have welcomed another son, Kyrian Jeremiah. Jansen has one older child from a previous relationship, a daughter named Natalia Hannah Jansen, born March 16, 2013.
Gianni Jansen, who was born Gianni Francisca, like her husband, grew up in Willemstad, Curaçao. She reportedly attended Radulphus College before enrolling at the Caribbean Intercontinental University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration. After school, Gianni reportedly found work as a real estate agent and sales and marketing consultant. She is currently the General Manager of Loftier Living.
Where is he from?
Kenley Jansen hails from the Lesser Antilles island country of Curacao, located in the southern Caribbean Sea. Curaçao is a country in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Prior to 2010, the now dissolved Netherlands Antilles was one of the five island territories.
Height and width
Kenley Jansen isn’t terribly tall, but at 1.95m tall he’ll probably be the tallest person in most places he’s found. The right-handed pitcher, who has been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, better known as irregular heartbeat, additionally weighs 125 kg (275 pounds).