This story was excerpted from Keegan Matheson's Blue Jays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Danny Jansen is reaping the rewards of turning adversity into awareness.

Roughly a week after returning from an oblique injury, Jansen has seemed as in control of his offensive game as he was in the first three games of the season prior to his injured list stint. One word the Blue Jays catcher has used a lot to explain his early success is “freedom.”

“Through struggle, I’ve really found what works for me,” Jansen said on Wednesday. “I want to be the most prepared guy. If I can do that and go play, then I can look at myself in the mirror. There’s definitely been changes within myself as far as realizing what kind of a hitter I am. I’m just me. These are my strengths. I’m not going to try to shy away from them, I’m going to try to enhance them and also continue to learn. Being fully in on that has been freeing for me.”

Every number for Jansen this season still carries the stamp of a small sample size, but it’s clear so far that this new mentality is translating at the plate.

While his consistent defensive work and the trust he’s garnered from Blue Jays pitchers certainly stand out, the 27-year-old Jansen has also hit .353 with a 1.391 OPS, three homers and four RBIs (including the 100th of his career) in 17 at-bats this season. His strikeout rate went from 21.5 percent last year to 10 percent so far this season.

Jansen had a 2.196 OPS through seven at-bats in April -- all of this from a guy whose career exit velocity is a below-average 88.1 mph.

But Jansen knows who he is at the plate now, and hitting the ball hard isn’t how he’s going to do damage. New routines and added preparation have also aided him with figuring out how to best approach each at-bat.

“If I’m going to prepare for a [pitcher], what are my strengths going to be? Will I try to be aggressive and try to do some damage to the pull side?” Jansen said. “I’m going to look for a certain pitch, I’m going to use the machine just to get my eyes going and this is where I want it, this is what I want to do with that pitch. That’s something that’s newer for me.”

It’s also what allowed Jansen to hit the ground running after a couple of rehab stints with Single-A Dunedin earlier in May.

“For me, it wasn’t a grind getting back,” he said. “I needed to get my swing back, of course, and my timing. But it’s not so much mechanical things. I would think of [that] in the past a little bit: mechanical things, trying to do things that I don’t do. [In] having that freedom there, getting my timing back, recognizing some off-speed pitches, was the only thing that was on my mind.”

The numbers won’t be this stellar all year -- Jansen still isn’t a qualified hitter in 2022 and he hasn’t had a hit in his past two games now -- but don’t expect a drastic dip, either. Both the production and the projections indicate the offensive growth is legit -- a welcome development for a Blue Jays team striving for consistency.