Bisons' Jansen cracks pair of homers
Danny Jansen arrived at Coca-Cola Field frustrated yet determined. The Blue Jays' sixth-ranked prospect had two hits in his previous 25 at-bats, with appearances in the Triple-A All-Star Game and the Futures Game keeping him from finding any sort of groove. He figured things out Sunday, homering twice and plating three runs
The Blue Jays' sixth-ranked prospect had two hits in his previous 25 at-bats, with appearances in the Triple-A All-Star Game and the Futures Game keeping him from finding any sort of groove.
He figured things out Sunday, homering twice and plating three runs to lead Triple-A Buffalo to a 5-3 victory over Durham.
"I have high expectations for myself," Jansen said. "I think I was trying to do a little too much. I'm not like a home run hitter. I think I was just trying to do too much. The past couple of days have been kind of frustrating. I just wanted to come in today and just really simplify the basics. Be early, relax and just try to find some barrels, go up the middle. That's what happened. I put some good swings on it today."
Jansen drew a first-inning walk off starter
One inning later, the 23-year-old native launched a no-doubt two-run blast to left-center. It was a refreshing feeling for Jansen, who decided he needed a different approach to turn around his fortunes at the dish.
"The way you get to [that point] is by having that little funk that you've got going on for a week," he said. "It's kind of like an eye-opener. 'Why am I struggling? What am I doing wrong? What can I change?' As baseball players, we're always looking to make those changes midseason. For me, it was just simplifying things."
Jansen took a called third strike against right-hander
Gameday box score
Normally a catcher, the 2013 16th-round Draft pick served as the Bisons designated hitter on Sunday.
"It's definitely harder," Jansen said. "Because when you're a catcher, you're locked in the whole game. When you DH, you have four at-bats pretty much, then after that at-bat, you're sitting on the bench. You gotta try to stay locked into the game."
Jansen also said he'll watch the opposing pitcher more intently, but being a designated hitter is something to which he must adjust, despite not struggling against Durham. The 6-foot-2 prospect upped his slash line to .275/.402/.479 with 10 homers, 50 RBIs and 40 walks in 240 at-bats.
"It was definitely a little bit of a different routine for him, so to speak" Buffalo manager Bobby Meacham said. "But now he's back in his routine [and] back to swinging the bat good."
And even though Jansen wasn't behind the plate, he still had a front row seat to
"The plan was just to be on the attack," Reid-Foley said. "We know Durham is a pretty good hitting team. I just tried to make quality pitches for a quality result."
The right-hander retired the first 10 hitters and the Bulls didn't challenge him until the sixth. Reid-Foley (7-2) gave up an infield single to
"He's got that electric stuff, man," Jansen said. "The reason why he's having such good success is his off-speed stuff. Curveball, slider, changeup, that's all plus pitches. He controls them all and throws them in whatever count."
The batterymate also noted that Reid-Foley is not afraid to challenge hitters with his fastball, which sits in the 95-97 mph range.
"He's got that aggressive mindset and that's what really, really helps him," Jansen said.
Blue Jays No. 15 prospect
"He's finding those holes," Jansen said. "He's got a lot of confidence. He's a big presence now, hitting some homers. I think he's at his best when he's hitting balls to the left-center gap and he stays through the ball."
Chris Bumbaca is a contributor for MiLB.com based in New York. Follow him on Twitter @BOOMbaca.