Kenley Jansen makes radar gun dance while recording milestone 400th save

BOSTON -- When the Red Sox came off a last-place finish and prioritized a closer as their big free-agent signing, many heads in baseball were no doubt scratched.

While it's still too early to call the Kenley Jansen signing by Chaim Bloom a stroke of genius, we are at least understanding what a high-end closer can do for a team in need of a reliable arm to close out tight games.

Jansen picked up his ninth save on Wednesday night in Atlanta, allowing one hit before rearing back for some extra power to record the final out via swinging strikeout.

The save was the 400th of Jansen's career, making him just the seventh player to reach that milestone in MLB history. The 35-year-old intends to record many more.

"It means a lot, man. It means a lot. It definitely means motivation, because I ain't done yet," Jansen told Ken Rosenthal over the weekend. "I'm here for two, but I'm planning to stay for a lot more after this one. So it's gonna be my motivation, man, my motivation to see how far I can reach."

His performance on Wednesday against his former team in Atlanta backed up those words.

Jansen threw the three hardest pitches in the entire game, topping 98 mph on three different pitches to the final batter, Travis d'Arnaud.

Jansen threw 10 fastballs above his season average of 95.3 mph, and his final sinker was 2.5 mph faster than his season average of 96.2 mph. 

It's all part of Jansen's velocity being up across the board. Jansen averaged 92.2 mph on his fastball last year, and he's never averaged higher than 94.4 mph in his career. He's currently averaging 95.3 mph. Likewise, his sinker velocity is at a career high, and his slider velocity is up 4.1 mph from last season.

Whatever it is that's got Jansen reaching new levels in pitch velocity, it's working. In 12 appearances this season, Jansen has a 0.77 ERA with 17 strikeouts and just three walks. He's 9-for-10 in save opportunities, ranking third in MLB in saves.

Jansen never faded away in terms of racking up saves -- he had 41 last year and 38 the year prior -- but it would appear there's some level of rejuvenation in his arm from the move to Boston.

"It flashed again," Jansen said of his fastball velocity, per RedSox.com. "My first [career] save, I was throwing 99. And then my 400th save, it flashed today. It's great, man. I'm just going to continue to keep working hard every day."

That gas was a sight to behold for Justin Turner and Kiké Hernandez, both of whom were longtime teammates of Jansen in Los Angeles.

"Seeing him hit 99 a couple of times tonight, me and Kiké kind of looked at each other and said, 'We haven't seen that in a while,'" Turner said, per RedSox.com.

It was quite the night for Jansen. But based on his words and his revamped velocity, it's clear that he'll keep racking up those saves as the season goes along.