New Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Kenley Jansen is known as one of the slowest-working pitchers in baseball, and he voiced his opinion on the implementation of a 30-second pitch clock for the 2023 season, via Andy McCullough and Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic.
“If you ask me honestly, I think it should never be there,” Jansen said, via McCullough and McCaffrey. “But it's a game of adjustment. I'm not going to complain about it. If you ask me personally, ‘if you were commissioner, what would you do?' I think we're going a bit too far from the game. But I get it. Maybe 162 games, you get sick and tired of it, when games are three or four hours – that's not helping, either.”
Despite Kenley Jansen's stance on the new rule, he wanted to shake the label of being a slow-working pitcher. According to McCullough and McCaffrey, while preparing for a game with the Atlanta Braves last year, Jansen saw a graphic on MLB Network showing the slowest-working pitchers in baseball, and he was on the top of the list.
“I was so embarrassed,” Jansen said, via McCullough and McCaffrey. “Like, dude, you've got to clean it up. It drives me crazy. Because I'm like, when did I get this slow?”
Jansen comes to the Red Sox in his age 35 season after spending the 2022 season with the Braves. He is one of the best relievers of the last decade, spending 12 seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Red Sox are hoping Jansen can perform to a similar level as he did with the Dodgers.
For Jansen to succeed in 2023, he will need to adapt to the new pitch clock rule.
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