Danny Jansen, who was traded to the Brewers on July 28, said most of his childhood baseball memories revolve around the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.
Not so long ago, members of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers lived in the home young Danny Jansen shared with his family, just a bike ride away from Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton. In a twist of fate, it was a Timber Rattlers player sent to another organization who brought Jansen back to Wisconsin.
Jansen, 30, joined the Brewers on July 29, one day after Milwaukee consummated a deal with the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for Class A infielder Jadher Areinamo. The catcher Jansen, an alumnus of Appleton West and part of a former Timber Rattlers host family, now finds himself with his fourth team in the span of a year after getting dealt on back-to-back trade deadlines.
"Definitely surprised at the news at first," said Jansen, who has served as the Rays primary catcher in 2025. "Hearing that it's for the Brewers is exciting. Obviously, the Brewers have been playing awesome baseball. Definitely being close to home where my wife and I live, as well, is exciting. Being part of an awesome clubhouse, as I've heard, and just competing with these guys."
Jansen, who spent more than a decade in the Toronto Blue Jays organization after he was drafted in 2013 out of West, has a .703 OPS this year and a solid defensive reputation. And yes, he had a chance to catch some games inside American Family Field growing up. But there's a catch.
"You're not going to want to hear it, but my parents … we grew up in Chicago," Jansen said with a smile. "My dad and my brother, who's seven years older, we moved when I was 2 to Appleton, so I stuck with the family on sports … football, baseball."
Jansen's first game with the Brewers could come against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday, July 29, the second of a pivotal three-game series between first-place contenders in the National League Central Division.
Jansen has said most of his childhood baseball memories revolve around the Timber Rattlers and that his family has stayed in touch with many players who passed through. That includes Adam Jones, the five-time All-Star who played for Wisconsin when the organization was still affiliated with the Seattle Mariners. Jones and Jansen even played against each other, leading to a light-hearted moment in 2018 when Jones snared a line-drive off Jansen's bat in right field.
Traded to Boston last year and signing on a one-year deal with Tampa Bay prior to the 2025 season, Jansen now finds himself needing to learn another new pitching staff and cultivate a role behind William Contreras, who's developing a reputation for seldom taking days off.
"He's a stud. I've watched him, playing against him, on TV" Jansen said of Contreras. "He can do it on both sides of the ball. The rest of the year, I'm just going to be prepared any way I can, whenever my name's called."
Jansen, who said he's already been assured that he'll love Milwaukee by longtime friend and former Brewers favorite Rowdy Tellez, makes his permanent home in Illinois, meaning the relocation gives him the option of spending parts of the regular season at home with his wife and two young children, ages 2½ and 1.
"Friends and family (are here), parents around the Appleton area … having everyone come around is a cool thing," Jansen said.
"I'm excited to get to know these guys as a pitching staff and help out any way I can behind the plate and try to have quality at-bats and pass the baton to the next guy," Jansen said. "It seems like that's what this club does a really good job of. They play really hard."
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Danny Jansen finds himself back in Wisconsin as member of Brewers
Category: Baseball
