LOS ANGELES — Kenley Jansen, the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ All-Star closer, completed heart surgery on Monday and posted a short, sanguine video from a hospital bed saying he is “doing good.”
The video appeared on his Twitter account.
Thank you for good thoughts, kind messages and prayers. 🙏🏽 @Dodgers @mlb #ChristmasSpirit #StrongerThanEver2019 pic.twitter.com/yPwuRL4sJ5
— Kenley Jansen (@kenleyjansen74) November 27, 2018
The Dodgers announced that Jansen underwent an ablation surgery — his second in six years — and that it “went as expected,” adding that Jansen should be “ready for spring training and available on Opening Day.”
The procedure had been anticipated ever since the recurrence of an irregular heartbeat prompted Jansen to be admitted into a Denver hospital on Aug. 9 and ultimately kept him away from the team for 11 days.
Jansen was initially placed on blood thinners. Upon returning to the Dodgers, he took heart medication — which he momentarily stopped, then took at a lighter dosage because it made him feel sluggish — and monitored his EKG levels on a daily basis.
Jansen initially underwent a cardiac ablation in 2012, when abnormal tissue in the left atrium of his heart was cauterized in order to stop from generating abnormal electrical signals. The latest procedure was originally expected to keep him out of physical activity from anywhere between two and eight weeks, giving him plenty of time to be ready by spring training.
Jansen, 31, was one of the game’s best closers from 2015 to 2017, posting a 1.81 ERA, a 0.73 WHIP, an 11.27 strikeout-to-walk ratio and 124 saves.
The burly right-hander suffered through some rough stretches in 2018, most notably at the start of the season and after he returned from his heart scare. But his final numbers — 3.01 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 4.82 strikeout-to-walk ratio, 38 saves — were solid by most measures.