diff --git a/pageserver/src/metrics.rs b/pageserver/src/metrics.rs
index a5644eb7de..fa8cd504d0 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/metrics.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/metrics.rs
@@ -674,6 +674,15 @@ pub static WALRECEIVER_CANDIDATES_ADDED: Lazy<IntCounter> =
 pub static WALRECEIVER_CANDIDATES_REMOVED: Lazy<IntCounter> =
     Lazy::new(|| WALRECEIVER_CANDIDATES_EVENTS.with_label_values(&["remove"]));
 
+pub static LAYER_GET_VALUE_RECONSTRUCT_DATA_SPAWN_BLOCKING_STARTED_COUNT: Lazy<IntCounter> =
+    Lazy::new(|| {
+        register_int_counter!(
+            "pageserver_layer_get_value_reconstruct_data_spawn_blocking_started_count",
+            "Number of spawn_blocking calls made in Layer::get_value_reconstruct_data"
+        )
+        .expect("failed to define a metric")
+    });
+
 pub static LAYER_GET_VALUE_RECONSTRUCT_DATA_SPAWN_BLOCKING_QUEUE_DELAY: Lazy<Histogram> = Lazy::new(
     || {
         register_histogram!(
diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/storage_layer.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/storage_layer.rs
index f17d139681..39fd4aae75 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/storage_layer.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/storage_layer.rs
@@ -412,6 +412,7 @@ pub trait Layer: std::fmt::Debug + Send + Sync + 'static {
                 ctx,
             ))
         } else {
+            crate::metrics::LAYER_GET_VALUE_RECONSTRUCT_DATA_SPAWN_BLOCKING_STARTED_COUNT.inc();
             tokio::task::spawn_blocking(move || {
                 crate::metrics::LAYER_GET_VALUE_RECONSTRUCT_DATA_SPAWN_BLOCKING_QUEUE_DELAY
                     .observe(start.elapsed().as_secs_f64());