Daniel Robert Jansen (born April 15, 1995) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

for the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. They are one of two major ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

and

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

. He made his MLB debut in 2018 with the Blue Jays.

Professional career

Toronto Blue Jays

Minor leagues

Jansen attended Appleton West High School in

Appleton, Wisconsin Appleton () is the county seat of Outagamie County, Wisconsin, United States, with small portions extending into Calumet County, Wisconsin, Calumet and Winnebago County, Wisconsin, Winnebago counties. Located on the Fox River (Green Bay tributary ...

, and was drafted by the Blue Jays in the 16th round of the

2013 Major League Baseball draft The 2013 Major League Baseball draft was held from June 6 through June 8, 2013. The first two rounds were broadcast from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. Each team received one selection per round, going in reverse order of ...

. He had committed to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

Jacksonville University Jacksonville University (JU) is a private university in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. Located in the city's Arlington (Jacksonville), Arlington district, the school was founded in 1934 as a two-year college and was known as Jacksonvill ...

, but signed with the Blue Jays instead. He was assigned to the

Rookie-level Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National L ...

Gulf Coast League Blue Jays The Florida Complex League Blue Jays are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Blue Jays. The team plays its ...

for the season, appearing in 36 games and hitting .246 with 18

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

(RBI). He showed above-average

plate discipline This is an alphabetical list of selected unofficial and specialized terms, phrases, and other jargon used in baseball, along with their definitions, including illustrative examples for many entries. 0–9 0 :"Oh and ..." See count. 1 ...

that season,

walking Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined as an " inverted pendulum" gait in which the body vaults o ...

21 times while

striking out ''Striking Out'' is an Television in the Republic of Ireland, Irish television legal drama television series, broadcast on RTÉ, that first aired on 1 January 2017, based on ''The Good Wife'' by Robert King (writer), Robert and Michelle King. Prod ...

only 10 times. In 2014, Jansen was promoted to the

Rookie Advanced Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

Bluefield Blue Jays The Bluefield Blue Jays were a minor league baseball team of the Rookie Appalachian League representing the twin cities of Bluefield, West Virginia, and Bluefield, Virginia. The team played their home games at Bowen Field at Peters Park, a histori ...

. In 38 games, he batted .282 with five home runs and 17 RBI. Jansen was assigned to the Single–A

Lansing Lugnuts The Lansing Lugnuts are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Athletics (baseball), Athletics. They are located in Lansing, Michigan, and play their home games at Jackson Field (Lansing), Jackson Fie ...

in 2015, but spent more than half the season on the disabled list. After a seven-game rehab stint in the Gulf Coast League, Jansen rejoined the Lugnuts in August. In 53 total games, he hit .210 with five home runs and 30 RBI. Jansen was invited to Major League spring training on January 12, 2016, and reassigned to minor league camp on March 12. He was assigned to the High–A

Dunedin Blue Jays The Dunedin Blue Jays are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and are the Single-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays Major League Baseball club. They are located in Dunedin, Florida, and play their home games at TD Ballpark, ...

for the 2016 minor league season. In 57 total games, Jansen hit .218 with one home run and 25 RBI in 2016. After the 2016 season, the Blue Jays assigned Jansen to the

Mesa Solar Sox The Mesa Solar Sox are a baseball team that plays in the East Division of the Arizona Fall League. They play their home games in Mesa, Arizona, at Sloan Park, which is also the spring training facility of the Chicago Cubs. The team was establi ...

of the

Arizona Fall League The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season baseball league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are filled ...

. He appeared in 20 games for the Sox and hit .282 with 11 RBI and the first two

triples TripleS (; ; stylized as tripleS) is a South Korean 24-member multinational girl group formed by Modhaus. They aim to be the world's first decentralized idol group, where the members will rotate between the full group, sub-units, and solo activi ...

of his professional career. Prior to the start of the 2017 season, Jansen found he was having vision problems, and began wearing

glasses Glasses, also known as eyeglasses (American English), spectacles (Commonwealth English), or colloquially as specs, are vision eyewear with clear or tinted lenses mounted in a frame that holds them in front of a person's eyes, typically u ...

on and off the field. The glasses paid immediate dividends, as Jansen hit .369 with five home runs and 18 RBI in 31 games for Dunedin before being promoted to the Double–A

New Hampshire Fisher Cats The New Hampshire Fisher Cats are a Minor League Baseball team based in Manchester, New Hampshire. The team, which plays in the Eastern League (1938–present), Eastern League, is the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Ja ...

. He played in 52 games for New Hampshire and hit .291 before being promoted to the Triple–A

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen Fiel ...

in August. With Buffalo, Jansen hit .328 with three home runs and 10 RBI in 21 games. On November 20, 2017, the Blue Jays added Jansen to their

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...

to protect him from the

Rule 5 draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

. Heading into the 2018 season, Jansen was named the eighth-best catching prospect by MLB. He played in the

All-Star Futures Game The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB) in conjunction with the mid-summer MLB All-Star Game. A team of American League-affiliated prospects competes against a team of National League- ...

in July, during which he hit a home run.

Major leagues

The Blue Jays promoted Jansen to the major leagues for the first time on August 12, 2018. He made his debut the following night, recording two singles in a 3–1 loss to the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

. He and Sean Reid-Foley became the first batterymates to debut in the same

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

game since Billy Rohr and Russ Gibson did so in April 1967. Jansen hit his first major-league home run on August 14 off Royals pitcher Heath Fillmyer, breaking a 3–3 tie in a game the Blue Jays would end up winning 6–5. He finished the season hitting .247 in 31 games. Overall with the 2020 Blue Jays, Jansen batted .182 with six home runs and 20 RBI in 43 games. During Game 2 of the AL Wild Card Series against the

, Jansen became the second Blue Jays player in franchise history with a multi-home run game in the postseason. The 2021 season saw Jansen playing 70 games, splitting playing time with catcher Reese McGuire. Jansen spent time on the injured list in July and August with a right hamstring strain, but returned to the lineup to play the last 21 games of the season with a .322 batting average and seven home runs. Jansen's 2022 season began strong before a left oblique injury in April sidelined him for over a month. On June 6, Jansen was again placed on the IL after suffering a fracture in his left pinky finger after being hit by a pitch during a game against the

On July 22, 2022, the Blue Jays set a franchise record for runs scored in a game with a 28–5 win over the

Fenway Park Fenway Park is a ballpark located in Boston, Massachusetts, less than one mile from Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home field of Major League Baseball's (MLB) Boston Red Sox. While the stadium was built in 1912, it was substantia ...

. Jansen hit two home runs over the

Green Monster The Green Monster is a popular nickname for the left field wall at Fenway Park, home to the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball. The wall is from home plate at the left-field Foul line (baseball), foul line, making it a popular target f ...

in left field, scored four times, and contributed six RBIs. He played in 72 games for Toronto in 2022, batting .260/.339/.516 with career–highs in home runs (15) and RBI (44). On January 13, 2023, Jansen signed a one-year, $3.5 million contract with the Blue Jays, avoiding salary arbitration. On September 1, Jansen suffered a fractured right middle finger after he was hit by a foul tip. On September 8, he underwent surgery to insert a pin into his finger, ending his season. Jansen finished the year playing in 86 games and hitting .228/.312/.474 with new career–highs in home runs (17) and RBI (53). Jansen again avoided arbitration prior to the 2024 season, as he agreed to a one-year deal for $5.2 million.

Boston Red Sox

On July 27, 2024, Jansen was traded to the

in exchange for minor-leaguers William Cutter Coffey, Eddinson Paulino, and Gilberto Batista. Jansen was added to Boston's active roster the next day. The June 26, 2024, game between the Blue Jays and the Red Sox was suspended due to rain in the second inning, with Jansen batting for the Blue Jays at the time. When the game resumed on August 26, Jansen, now a member of the Red Sox's active roster, became the first player in MLB history to play for both teams in the same game. Jansen re-entered the game as the Red Sox's catcher, with the Blue Jays' Daulton Varsho pinch-hitting in Jansen's slot in the Blue Jays' batting order. After Varsho struck out in the top half of the second inning, Jansen came to bat in the bottom half of the same inning, lining out to first base.

Tampa Bay Rays

On December 12, 2024, Jansen signed a one-year contract with the

Personal life

Jansen is the younger son of parents Steve and Kathy. His older brother is Matthew. In his youth, Jansen's family hosted players for the then-

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

Single–A affiliate

Wisconsin Timber Rattlers The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Grand Chute, Wisconsin, a town on the outskirts of Appleton in the Fox Cities, and are nam ...

. In 2004, Adam Jones was housed by the Jansen family. Jansen and his wife Alexis were married in January 2022 with former teammate

Rowdy Tellez Ryan John "Rowdy" Tellez ( ; born March 16, 1995) is an American professional baseball first baseman for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Toronto Blue Jays, Milwaukee Brewers, and Pitts ...

as the officiant. Their first child, a son, was born in October 2022.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jansen, Danny 1995 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball players from DuPage County, Illinois Bluefield Blue Jays players Boston Red Sox players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Dunedin Blue Jays players Gulf Coast Blue Jays players Lansing Lugnuts players Major League Baseball catchers Mesa Solar Sox players New Hampshire Fisher Cats players Sportspeople from Elmhurst, Illinois Tampa Bay Rays players Toronto Blue Jays players