Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen needed to make an early exit from yesterday’s sport attributable to what was ultimately revealed as a fracture within the knuckle of his proper center finger.  Throughout an at-bat within the sixth inning, Rockies left fielder Nolan Jones fouled a ball into Jansen’s uncovered proper hand, leaving the catcher in apparent discomfort.  Jansen remained behind the plate for the remainder of the inning, however Alejandro Kirk pinch-hit for Jansen within the prime of the seventh.

Tyler Heineman has already been referred to as up from Triple-A as at the very least a precautionary measure whereas Jansen undergoes additional imaging and assessments, as supervisor John Schneider informed Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith and different reporters.  Given the character of the damage, it’s laborious to think about that Jansen will be capable of keep away from the 10-day injured record, leaving the Jays with out their beginning catcher for at the very least a few of their playoff push.  Kirk will take a lot of the begins within the interim, with Heineman maybe getting solely sparing backup responsibility.

Jansen has hit .228/.312/.474 with 17 homers over 301 plate appearances this season, translating to a 115 wRC+ that ranks third amongst all certified Blue Jays hitters.  This provides to Jansen’s resume as one of many extra quietly productive catchers in baseball, although attributable to accidents and splitting time with Kirk and different Toronto backstops, he has solely amassed 754 PA for the reason that begin of the 2021 season.  This season, Jansen missed a number of weeks attributable to a groin pressure, and has maybe been lucky to keep away from a hand damage till now contemplating how incessantly Jansen is hit by pitches (10) or the pure danger and wear-and-tear of catching responsibility.

His damage resume consists of one other finger fracture final season, which saved Jansen for a bit of over a month.  That specific fracture was close to Jansen’s left pinky finger, and given the extensive variance and severity of finger-related issues, it’s far to too quickly to inform if Jansen’s present problem is wherever as extreme, or how lengthy he is perhaps out of motion.

Consistency has been an issue all season for Toronto’s lineup, even earlier than Bo Bichette and Matt Chapman went onto the IL earlier this week.  Dropping Jansen could be one other important hit, although Nicholson-Smith writes that Bichette and Chapman have at the very least been understanding on the sector, creating hope that both participant is perhaps again at or shortly after the 10-day minimal absence.