"Jarred Kelenic started off the season as the nominal starting right fielder because of Ronald Acuña Jr.'s continued recovery from his knee injury. That role gave him effectively about six weeks to establish himself as a player finally ready for regular at bats and contributor status. That ... didn't happen, and he was so bad that he got optioned to the minors before we even got to May, and only reappeared in the big leagues to briefly serve as a pinch-runner."
"After being part of a rather-infamous trade in which the Mets sent Kelenic to the Mariners for Robinson Cano, the Mariners then turned around and traded Kelenic to the Braves in December 2023 in order to get the Atlanta Braves to take the contracts of Marco Gonzalez and Evan White's contracts off Seattle's books. The idea was simple. Atlanta needed a corner outfielder, and they were acquiring a former top-ten pick at the cost of a few tens of millions of dollars in unwanted contracts."
"Kelenic had a 110 wRC+ during the 2023 season, and while there were some fluky things in there, the idea was that he'd cut down on some of the strikeouts and do the general improvement things that young top prospects do. That ... didn't happen at all in 2024 as he was a below-average hitter who was good enough as a defender to not be exactly replacement-level."
Jarred Kelenic began 2024 as the nominal starting right fielder while Ronald Acuña Jr. recovered from a knee injury. The opportunity provided roughly six weeks to earn regular at-bats, but poor early performance led to an early demotion to the minors and only a brief big-league pinch-running appearance. Seattle traded Kelenic to Atlanta in December 2023 as part of a payroll-clearing move, with Atlanta hoping a former top-ten pick would fill a corner outfield need. Kelenic posted a 110 wRC+ in 2023 but produced below-average offense in 2024, briefly succeeded with a three-week approach in early summer, then regressed and became part-time by mid-August.
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