Better Know Your Blue Jays 40-man: Danny Jansen

Danny Jansen was #5 and #3 on our Top 40 Prospects list in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

In 2019 I wrote:

Behind the plate, he looked ok to me. Most scouts seem to think he’ll be more or less average. With his bat, average will work.

181 games into his MLB career, it seems much the opposite. His glove has been carrying his bat. Danny has hit.208/.297/.370 in those 181 games. I expected much better. But then he was a finalist for the Gold Glove in 2019, which I didn’t expect.

To me, last year, his defense didn’t look as good, at least at the start of the season. I thought it had something to do with the lack of training time before the season. He didn’t seem to be able to make the throw to second early in the year. Throws from the outfield weren’t being caught. And, it seemed, we had more trouble with pitchers having trouble getting the signals. Catchers were crossed up a lot. We always think that spring training is too long, but last year showed why it is that long.

We have had poor luck developing catchers. The last success we’ve had developing a homegrown catcher was Pat Borders. At the moment, we have many possible ‘catchers of the future’. In my mind, this is the year that Jansen proves he is the one (Once and Future Catcher of the Future) if he can only put the chest protector out of the stone. If not Alejandro Kirk and/or Riley Adams or, soon after that, Gabriel Moreno.

PECOTA has Jansen playing in 93 games, hitting .238/.335/.412.

ZiPS sees 113 games, hitting .230/.322/.424.

So both see a nice jump in his offense, which would certainly help his cause at grabbing that ‘catcher of the future’ golden ring.