All-Decade Blue Jays Relief Pitcher
Casey Janssen, Relief Pitcher
- 2006-2014 (8 seasons)
- 368 strikeouts; 90 saves
- 3.52 ERA; 7.5 bWAR; 1.219 WHIP
- 389 games; 533.0 innings
The Toronto Blue Jays would use their 4th round pick in the 2003 amateur draft on pitcher Casey Janssen, who at the time was a starter for UCLA.
He would make his debut in 2006, where he would post a 5.07 ERA and would start 17 games for the Toronto Blue Jays.
In 2007, the Blue Jays moved Janssen to the bullpen in a set-up role, where he began to excel and posted some of the best numbers of his career while also appearing in a career-high 70 games. This success would unfortunately not translate to 2008, where he would miss the entire season and part of the 2009 campaign recovering from a torn labrum suffered in his right throwing shoulder.
For the next 6 years, Janssen would make 5 spot starts for the Blue Jays, and would see his bullpen role change from middle relief/set-up to the closer prior to the 2012 season. While he had saved 9 games prior to 2012, the role was Janssens to lose for the next two seasons. He would go on to finish 133 games and rack up 81 saves from 2012-2014.
During the 2014/2015 off-season, Janssen became a free agent and would go on to sign a 1 year deal with the Washington Nationals. He would pitch to a 4.95 ERA and would not be brought back to the Nationals the following season.
Following the 2015 season, Janssen would sign minor league deals with the Boston Red Sox and the San Diego Padres but would fail to make the MLB during both of those stints. His last season of professional baseball was in the Mexican League with Acereros del Norte in 2017.