Dodgers closer Jansen says he's 'ready to roll'

When Los Angeles Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen showed up Saturday at the team's FanFest, he wasted no time in giving reporters a progress report regarding his heart procedure in November. "I definitely feel great. Ready to roll," said the reliever, who has lost approximately 25 pounds since his 5 1/2-hour catheter ablation procedure on Nov. 26 to fix a defect that caused an irregular heartbeat. "Excited. Playing catch for two weeks. Ready for spring training."

That's good news for all Dodgers fans, particularly those of Jansen, the 31-year-old right-hander who underwent the same procedure six years ago. In August, he suffered an atrial fibrillation as a result of the condition at altitude in Denver, where the elevation is 5,280 feet. On Thursday, he threw his first bullpen session since that procedure in November. No longer needing blood thinners, Jansen said he is cleared to pitch in Denver this year.

"It's like a weight off you, doing that surgery, knowing that your heart is fine," said Jansen, who decided not to make another trip to Denver to face the Rockies in September on the advice of his cardiologist because he would have been at "high risk" of another incident. After going 1-5 with a career-worst 3.01 ERA while earning 38 saves in 42 chances, Jansen hopes to rebound from a disappointing 2018 that concluded with two blown save opportunities in the World Series.

"No sitting down, no taking vacation this time, no doing media for my teammates," he said at Saturday's event in Los Angeles. "Just do my job, get myself ready, throw as much as I need to get ready for a new season. I'm not happy about that year I had last year. That's motivation for me, to push myself and get better. "I'm not going to focus on velocity. Make sure mechanics are in place. If you worry about velocity now, you develop bad habits. Last year in April I wasn't ready, I tried to develop velocity and created bad habits. Try to get out of bad habits is not fun. I know I have it in there."

--Field Level Media