Angels 4-Time All-Star Reliever on Flamethrower Ben Joyce: 'This Kid is Special

The Los Angeles Angels are hoping that veteran closer Kenley Jansen will serve as a mentor for 24-year-old flamethrower Ben Joyce.

Joyce could be considered the team's closer-in-waiting and Jansen is honored to help such a talented reliever reach his potential.

“I learned from the guys who did it before me — now I have a little experience, and I’m gonna share my wisdom with him,” Jansen said of Joyce. “This kid is special. He’s throwing 105 mph. He’s fearless, and that’s what we need. Anything I can do to help make him better, I’m going to do.”

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Joyce was forced into the closer's role before he was ready last season. The Angels traded Carlos Estevez to the Philadelphia Phillies and Joyce had to take over by default.

What Joyce's role is exactly this season is unknown. He could be Jansen's setup man or he could come in earlier.

“If it works out that I’m an understudy, I’m all for it,” Joyce said. “I’m trying to stay around him as much as I can. Even [Wednesday], he was throwing a bullpen, and I was all up in his space, but he’s been great about it. He’s gone out of his way to talk to me, teach me things, give me pointers. I’m definitely taking advantage of it.”

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Joyce is full of questions and eager to talk to Jansen about anything and everything but the biggest talking point for him is about failure and how to handle blown saves.

“The possibilities are endless,” Joyce said. “How does he approach failure? It’s so hard as the closer, you feel like the game is completely riding on your hands, which is an awesome feeling when it goes well. But when it goes bad, it’s definitely tough. How does he bounce back from that?”

Jansen has had to bounce back over the last few years. During his first eight seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, he posted a 24-13 record with a 2.08 ERA and recorded 230 saves across 474 appearances.

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However, as he faced inconsistency over his final four years in Los Angeles (2018-21), he had to learn how to handle adversity.

“Sometimes, you can’t take it as a negative — you have to take it as part of the learning process,” said Jansen.

“You have to learn from your failures and move on. Your mindset is, how strong can you be mentally? I started developing that after [a 2017 World Series loss to Houston], going into 2018 and 2019. Those are the years I learned so much about myself, and I feel like I’m a better pitcher, a better man, now than I was at the beginning of my career.”

Jansen should be a great mentor for Joyce and the future of the Angels bullpen is in safe hands.

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