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Blue Jays: Danny Jansen catapults up catching depth chart in 2017

By Clayton Richer |
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - AUGUST 20: A detailed view of a Rawlings catchers glove with Franklin batting gloves in it belonging to the New York Mets player sitting on the dugout bench prior to the game against the San Francisco Giants at AT
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - AUGUST 20: A detailed view of a Rawlings catchers glove with Franklin batting gloves in it belonging to the New York Mets player sitting on the dugout bench prior to the game against the San Francisco Giants at AT

The Toronto Blue Jays have a plethora of young backstops marinating in the farm system, however, nobody climbed the organizational catching depth chart more than Danny Jansen in 2017.

Danny Jansen was selected by the Blue Jays in the 16th round, 475th overall in the 2013 amateur draft from West High School in Appleton, Wisconsin approximately 100 miles north of Milwaukee. In his previous 4 seasons of professional baseball, Jansen never saw action in more than 57 games due to injury and platooning.

In 2017 Jansen was healthy and given the opportunity to play every day coupled with his new prescription glasses that contributed to his success at the plate. In 57 contests in 2016, Jansen hit an uninspiring .218/.316/.269 playing all but 3 games in High-A ball with Dunedin.

From the get-go in 2017 Jansen asserted himself as a legitimate major league prospect forcing the Blue Jays brain trust to take notice. The backstop slashed .323/.400/.484 with 10 round trippers in 104 games between Dunedin, New Hampshire, and Buffalo. Jansen leapfrogged the more talked about catching prospects Max Pentecost and Reese McGuire in the prospect pecking order.

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Jansen is not just a stick, the kid can catch as well, defensively Jansen made only 4 errors and permitted 4 passed balls in 811 innings of work behind the dish in 2017. If there is one area where he could improve upon it would be controlling the running game. In 2017, Jansen only threw out 24% of would be base stealers gunning down 26 runners in 108 attempts. Obviously, his pitchers have to eat some of the blame for this stat line especially seeing he caught hurlers in 3 different levels this past season.

The Wisconsin native was also named a 2017 first-team Minor League All-Star by Baseball America last week along with Jays prospects Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The catcher beat out second-team All-Star Francisco Mejia of the Indians for first-team honours.

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A true measure of a great season is when you go from hitting .218 to being named the top catcher in all of the minors by Baseball America. Look for Jansen to make the trek north of the border at some point in 2018.

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