Dodgers: Kenley Jansen to Be Activated Before Monday’s Game

It looks like the Dodgers streak without Kenley Jansen is finally coming to an end. The star closer reported himself that he planned on being activated ahead of Monday night’s tilt against St Louis back at home.

Kenley Jansen will be activated tonight. He received the “all clear” from the cardiologist.

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— AlaNNa Rizzo (@alannarizzo) August 20, 2018

It looked for a while that Kenley’s season could have been at risk. After all, he did have heart surgery a few years back to correct his irregular heartbeat. The big man went out the disabled list on the first game of a trip to Colorado. The mixture of low oxygen and dehydration may have been the cause, but he felt he was 100 percent past it.

Jansen’s last appearance came on August 7th, where he closed out a tight ballgame against Oakland. Jansen showed no signs of physical distress, tossing a scoreless ninth with two strikeouts en route to the save.

Kenley Jansen will continue taking heart medication and taking his own daily EKGs through his Kardio app, but he expects to pitch without restrictions for the rest of the season. He estimated there’s a 90% chance he will require another surgery this winter.

— Pedro Moura (@pedromoura) August 20, 2018

There is still a good chance that Kenley will need some sort of surgery in the offseason. Obviously, they will not know the extent of the care needed until they cross that bridge in a few months. One thing is certain though: Kenley was certainly missed in the bullpen. The Dodgers have played nine games since Jansen officially hit the DL, and they lost six of them. Of those six losses, five were one-run games.

Analysis

The big man is back and appears to be ready to go. Any sort of bullpen help will be much appreciated, especially down the stretch. Jansen has saved 32 games and pitched to a low 2.15 earned run average despite his rough start to the season. He also has his WHIP back down to 0.902, which is slightly above his career average.