Jansen will also technically be catching against his own spot in the lineup on the other team.
An odd set of circumstances has led to Boston Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen becoming the first player in MLB history to play for both teams during the same game.
A June 26 match between the Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays was rained out in the second inning with a 0-0 score, to be completed as part of a doubleheader at a later date.
About a month later, on July 27, Jansen was traded to the Red Sox for a string of prospects and added to Boston’s active roster the next day.
Now, on August 26 Jansen will face his old team in the continuation of the June 26 game, in a series of odd technicalities that will make him the first player to suit up for both teams in the same game.
In fact, if ball fans were able to catch the MLB Gameday page before the 2:05 p.m. start time, they would see that Jansen was slated to be catching and batting in the same at-bat. Jansen was the hitter at the plate for the Blue Jays when the game was officially suspended on June 26.
On the score sheet, Jansen will change teams mid-at-bat and go from from batting for the Blue Jays to catching for the Red Sox.
It all stems from a COVID-era rule in which the league decided that in order to limit exposure between different players, if a game was suspended due to weather, the same players would be required to play in the makeup game.
“Baseball has been around for so long, there’s so many things that’s happened in the game. So I was surprised when I found out I was the first,” Jansen said, according to ABC News. “Any time you can be a part of this great game’s history, it’s pretty unique.”
The decision apparently came after manager Alex Cora started receiving texts from journalists asking if Jansen would be playing.
The roster requirements mean that the Blue Jays will lose several players mid-game: Justin Turner, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Kevin Kiermaier, and Jansen have all been traded since the game technically started. Bo Bichette will also likely not be finishing the game due to injury.
Players like Joey Loperfido will magically appear on the roster mid-game, and the technicalities of the game will actually change the history of of a Jays rookie. If Leo Jiménez suits up in the makeup game, the 23-year-old will have his MLB debut retroactively changed to June 26, 2024, even though he physically debuted on July 7, 2024.
Interestingly enough, Jansen will be replacing Red Sox catcher Reese McGuire in the lineup. McGuire was sent down to the minors upon Jansen’s arrival in the trade. In what will likely be a future trivia question, this means that Jansen will go down in history as changing teams mid-game, to bat while catching, replacing a player who hadn’t been sent down to the minors yet (McGuire), and likely facing another player who wasn’t actually there on the original game day (Jiménez).
