Kenley Jansen Wife, Salary, Height, Weight, Where is he from?

Quick Facts

Kenley Jansen is a three-time Major League Baseball All-Star who plays as a pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team he has played for since his debut in 2010 having previously signed with the franchise as a teenager.

The Curacoan, who is known for his cut fastball that reaches a top speed of 98 mph, is also a two-time recipient of the National League Reliever of the Year Award and has also led the National League in saves in 2017.

Biography

On the 30th of September, 1987, in Willemstad, Curacao, Bernadette Jansen, a travel agent, and Isidor Jansen, a construction worker, welcomed the last of their three boys, Kenley Geronimo Jansen. From a very young age, Jansen began showing exceptional talent when playing the game of baseball with his brothers. He originally played as an outfielder before moving to shortstop, then to third base and first base before finally settling at the catcher position.

Kenley Jansen was said to have gained a lot of admirers for his talent as a teenager. By the time he was finishing high school in 2004, the Los Angeles Dodgers signed him as an undrafted free agent to play as a catcher. Upon joining the team, the Dodgers assigned him to its rookie-level minor league affiliate, the Gulf Coast Dodgers, where he began to make a name for himself on his way to the majors.

Jansen spent some time with the Gulf Coast Dodgers before he was promoted to the Ogden Raptors of the Pioneer League. He then spent a season playing for the North Shore Honu in the Hawaii Winter Baseball League before rejoining the Raptors in 2007. While featuring for the Raptors, Jansen also lined up for the Class-A Great Lakes Loons of the Midwest League before he again returned to Hawaii, this time with the West Oahu CaneFires.

In 2009, Kenley Jansen’s parent team convinced him to switch to pitching from catching due to his poor numbers. The player immediately enjoyed a career resurgence that earned him a place on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster in November 2009 although he ended up not staying with the team as he was again sent to join the Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino. A few months later, Jansen was promoted to the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts where he pitched 27 innings in 22 games, with a 1.67 ERA to earn a permanent promotion to the Dodgers team for the 2010 season, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Salary

Kenley Jansen has come a long way from the time he put pen to paper on his first ever Major League Baseball contract which was a one-year $416k deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2011. His latest deal, a five-year $80 million contract which was agreed to in December 2016 has definitely put him amongst the highest earners on the team. It will see him receive an average annual salary of $16 million.

Kenley Jansen’s Family – Wife

Kenley Jansen has had the pleasure of battling through life’s curveballs with his wife, Gianni Jansen. The couple, who are both from the island of Curacao, tied the knot in 2016, a few months after they welcomed their first child together, a son named Kaden Isaiah Jansen, who was born on the 16th of August, 2015. On the 22nd of August 2018, Gianni and Kenley welcomed another son, Kyrian Jeremiah. Jansen has an older child from a previous relationship, a daughter named Natalia Hannah Jansen, who was born on the 16th of March, 2013.

Gianni Jansen, who was born Gianni Francisca, like her husband, grew up in Willemstad, Curacao. She reportedly attended Radulphus College before enrolling at the Inter-Continental University of the Caribbean where she acquired a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. After school, Gianni was said to have found work as a real estate agent and a sales & marketing consultant. She currently serves as the managing director at Loftier Living.

Where Is He From?

Kenley Jansen is from the Lesser Antilles island country of Curacao, which is located in the southern part of the Caribbean Sea. Curacao is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Before 2010, it was a part of the five island territories that formed the now dissolved Netherlands Antilles.

Height and Weight

Kenley Jansen is not freakishly tall, but with a height of 6 feet 5 inches (1.95 m), he will probably be the tallest person in most places he finds himself. The right-handed pitcher, who has in the past been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, better known as an irregular heartbeat, further weighs 125 kg (275 pounds).

Also Read: Top 10 Richest People in the world with full biography and details.