Bad luck has struck the Toronto Blue Jays.
“Catcher Danny Jansen has been placed on the 10-day disabled list (IL),” Toronto announced on team social media on Wednesday. Catcher Tyler Heinemann was called up from Triple-A to replace him.
Jansen injured his middle finger in the sixth inning of a 2023 Major League Baseball game against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado, USA, when he was hit by a foul ball from Nolan Jones. He played through the pain to finish the inning, but was replaced by pinch-hitter Alejandro Kirk in the top of the seventh.
Jansen is not only the team’s closer, but also Ryu’s helper. According to Baseball-Reference, Jansen has shared the most battery time with Ryu since he arrived in Toronto in the 2020 season, with 41 games and 215⅓ innings together. That’s second only to A.J. Ellis (41 games, 245 innings) among the 13 catchers he’s combined with.
Pitchers value battery time so much that they have their own dedicated catcher, so there are already concerns about how Jansen’s absence will affect Ryu.카지노
With Jansen out of the picture, Ryu is expected to be paired with Kirk. Kirk is an offensive-minded catcher who has only combined with Ryu once so far (four innings). Heinemann, who was called up to replace Jansen, has never been paired with Ryu.
Meanwhile, Toronto will be without infielders Bo Bissett (strained right thigh muscle) and Matt Chapman (sprained right hand middle finger ligament), leaving Jansen in a power vacuum. It’s bad news for Toronto, which is 74-61 overall this season and is in a tight postseason race, sitting “1.5” games out of the third wild-card spot (Texas Rangers/75-59).