TAMPA — Danny Jansen took some pride in being one of the last men squatting.
He had given in a few years ago to the recent shift among catchers to position themselves with one knee on the ground, dropping his left with the bases clear.
And he was well aware of the ongoing narrative about the benefits — most notably with framing pitches — of having one knee on the ground at all times.
But in situations when it mattered most, with runners on base and threatening to score, the veteran backstop stuck to a traditional squat rather than the popular right-knee-down position.
“I’m stubborn, and I’ve been around a little bit and I’ve done this,” said Jansen, 29 and in his eighth-big league season. “I’ve been a one-knee guy with nobody on base. But we’re talking about secondary stance, the action stance, I’ve always been (on) two feet.
“I just loved it. I never wanted to give anything up to get something in a way. Whether that was my block-first mentality, maybe that’s the reason I kept doing it.”
The Rays, with their emphasis on pitching and specifically strike-throwing, have been big proponents of the one-knee-down position since 2020, encouraging it at the major-league level and teaching it throughout the minors.
So when Jansen signed a one-year, $8.5 million free-agent deal in December, he figured a conversation was forthcoming.
Field coordinator Tomas Francisco, who serves as the Rays big-league catching coach, went with the soft-sell approach, telling Jansen to think about it, consider the potential benefits and experiment with it in his offseason workouts.
“We talked about it a little bit, that it’s just to put him in the best possible spot to stay healthy and to help him out all around,” Francisco said.
Jansen said he appreciated Francisco’s handling.
“The last couple years, I’ve gotten more and more intrigued by it but never really gave it a shot,” Jansen said. “I talked to Tomas and I did it a little bit (in the offseason), but I came into spring that I was going to be (on) two feet, though I was willing to learn about it a little more. I think I was one of the only guys left that was still two feet (down).”
Jansen’s concern was losing the side-to-side mobility to block pitches, in which he takes massive pride and last season ranked first in the majors. “That’s part of my DNA,” Jansen said. “I love blocking.”
Francisco worked with him on the positioning, and Jansen eventually felt he was able to still move well enough to block well, preventing excessive passed balls and wild pitches.
Jansen noted some of the other benefits, too.
“I think with Tommy not forcing it but (being) willing to talk about it and experiment with it and (let me) just try it, finally after a couple spring games I was like, ‘All right, I’m going to do it. I can really see the benefit for me.‘”
Jansen liked how, from a base of his right knee down, he came up in a direct line to throw to second base. He said it kept him from “getting squirrelly” as he sometimes would and rushing his throw.
Plus, having a knee down made it “less taxing” on his body, especially his legs.
“It’s a little bit of everything,” Francisco said.
The biggest advantage should come with pitch-framing, which is the polite way of saying stealing strikes. Per Statcast, Jansen ranked 41st in the majors last season, just below league average.
“A huge thing in the game, no doubt” Jansen said. “I never wanted to be mediocre at it. I just wanted to be able to do it out of that position.”
Having one knee down allows a catcher to ...
