Mariners option top prospect Jarred Kelenic to Triple-A, reinstate Shed Long Jr.
Mariners top prospect Jarred Kelenic will return to Tacoma this week as he continues to seek consistency at the plate.
The club announced Monday the 21-year-old outfielder, who debuted in Seattle last month and is considered the No. 4 prospect in all of baseball by MLB Pipeline, has been optioned to Triple-A to regroup after enduring a hitless stretch that spanned his past 10 games with a plate appearance.
“It’s been a rough couple of weeks for him, and we thought this was an opportunity just to kind of tap the brakes and reset, go down and find the barrel a little bit,” Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto said Tuesday morning during a video call with reporters. “Early on, in the first two, three weeks of his time in the big leagues, I thought he had an excellent process He was hitting the ball hard, we were seeing good at-bats, and they weren’t naturally translating into terrific results, but, we saw all of the elements. He was taking his walks. He was working counts. He was swinging at the right pitches and, for the most part, that was the overriding takeaway from his first major league opportunity.
“Here in these last 10 days or so, you can really see him pressing and coming out of his approach and not doing those same things, and before it gets too far away from us, we just want to take a moment and tap the brakes and give him a chance to just take a breather, and go do the things that he does so well, and I’m certain that he’s going to find himself quickly and be back in the big leagues in no time.”
Kelenic made his debut on May 13 and has appeared in 23 games for the Mariners this season, but during his first month in the majors struggled to find consistent production.
In his second game with the big league club, the talented prospect put his offensive ability on display, announcing his anticipated arrival loudly with three hits — including a two-run home run for his first big league hit, and two doubles.
But, Kelenic has scattered only five hits in the 21 games he’s played in since.
“There are certain players whose talent level is high enough that the likely first struggle they’re going to encounter is going to be in the big leagues,” Dipoto said. “And I think that Jarred is among that group of players, and it’s hard the first time you struggle like he has over the last month and having never experienced it before.
“I said early on, his second day in the big leagues, he was the best player on the field, and I think it was eye-opening to a lot of people, the things that he’s capable of. And my guess is that when he returns, he’ll have learned how to manage the ups and the downs a little bit better than he has this time, and that’s going to be the next step toward making his adjustments as a big leaguer. And I think we all think that he’s going to be an impact player at this level, and it’s just a matter of time.”
In his 23 games with the Mariners during his first big league stint, Kelenic hit 8-for-83 (.096) with seven runs scored, the two doubles, two home runs, three stolen bases and eight walks to 26 strikeouts.
He endured an 0-for-39 stretch prior to Monday’s move, including 18 strikeouts during that span.
“All of the elements to be an impact major league hitter are there,” Dipoto said. “Sometimes you just need to help them slow it down, and this is all that is with with Jarred, is just helping him to slow it down.
“We don’t think he’s overwhelmed by the level of play. Frankly, we’re not sending him back to Triple-A because he struggled, we’re sending him back to Triple-A just to give him a breather and remember how to do the things that he does well, because when he does those things, when you see Jarred execute his plan, we believe he’ll succeed. He’s just not doing that right now.”
Kelenic was expected to return to the Rainiers starting lineup Tuesday night at Cheney Stadium.
During his first stint in Triple-A this season, which lasted one week before he was promoted to Seattle, Kelenic finished an impressive 10-for-27 (.370) with six runs scored, a double, two home runs, five RBI, two walks, five strikeouts and two stolen bases as Tacoma’s leadoff hitter. He recorded at least one hit in each of his six appearances.
“Every time he comes to bat ... I’m excited and I feel like this is going to be kind of the moment when a wave of overwhelming success begins,” Dipoto said. “And I think that’s going to happen today in Tacoma. And he just needs to get back on track. ... There’s no questioning the talent, and we did see in the underlying skill — we saw the things that we would like to see.
“But, it’s been a pretty lengthy dry spell for him, and the when you see players start to press — and you can see it in his face, you can see it in his body language as he’s walking into and out of the batter’s box on a given night — Jarred has so many years in front of him and so much success left to give, there’s no sense in driving it to the desert floor in this first chance before just tapping the brakes and giving him an opportunity to find himself.”
Infielder Shed Long Jr. was reinstated from a long stay on the 60-day injured list and utility player Sam Haggerty was transferred to the 60-day IL in corresponding roster moves Monday.
Long returns to the Mariners following a long absence. The infielder was sidelined last September with a stress fracture in his right shin, missing the final few weeks of the shortened season, later had surgery, and opened this season on the IL.
He appeared in seven games with the Rainiers this season before he was reinstated, hitting .323/.417/.516 with eight runs scored, three doubles, a home run, two RBI, five walks and five strikeouts.
Long replaces Kelenic on the active roster, and has played both infield and outfield for the Mariners in the past. He hit .171/.242/.291 with 10 runs scored, five doubles, three homers, nine RBI, four stolen bases and 11 walks to 37 strikeouts in 34 appearances with Seattle last summer.
Haggerty was placed on the 10-day IL on May 24 with right shoulder inflammation and was transferred to the 60-day IL to make room for Long on the 40-man roster, which remains full.
This story was originally published June 7, 2021 at 6:12 PM.
