Rainiers notes: Kelenic collects 7 hits, 2 home runs and 6 RBIs over weekend
Jarred Kelenic ended the weekend Sunday afternoon at Cheney Stadium with his second consecutive multi-hit performance.
The former Mariners top prospect, who was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma to reset earlier this month, opened scoring for the Rainiers in their series finale against the Las Vegas Aviators with an opposite-field, three-run blast.
He drove in two more runs later on, capping a 3-for-5 day with a ground-rule double and a single. His five RBI were a career-high in a Rainiers uniform.
Two nights earlier — the Rainiers were rained out Saturday — Kelenic unloaded a 4-for-4 outing, leading off with a 416-foot triple off the center field wall in the first, then added an opposite-field solo home run and a pair of base hits.
In the past week, the 22-year-old outfielder has compiled a five-game hitting streak while finishing 10-for-19 during the five-game series against Las Vegas.
“I’m just trying to — as cliché as it sounds — kind of live where my feet are at, enjoy my time with the guys, and just play the game hard like I have been,” he said pregame Sunday in Tacoma.
Kelenic has now been in Tacoma’s lineup for 11 games — he was optioned to the Triple-A club May 13 following a .140/.219/.291 start to the season in 30 games with Seattle — and his bat is beginning to pick up.
“He knows that it’s critical for him to be a big part of our offense for us to do well, how we’re built out,” Mariners manager Scott Servais told reporters on the road in New York when Kelenic was optioned.
“And he wants to get it going right as quick as he can, and knows maybe he does need to step back and get in an environment that’s going to allow him to do that.”
Kelenic has now hit safely in eight games — including four multi-hit games — and is batting .348/.400/.652 with three doubles, a triple, three home runs, nine RBI, a stolen base and four walks to 17 strikeouts in his 11 appearances.
“He works as hard as anybody,” Servais said earlier this month. “He cares. He just needs to go down and play, relax, have fun again and results will come.”
The results the past week in particular — his batting average (.526), on-base percentage (.571) and slugging percentage (1.000) the past seven days each rank among the top 10 in the Pacific Coast League during that stretch — have certainly impressed.
“I know I can play in the big leagues,” Kelenic said. “It’s really just about getting my head space right, and I’ll be back.”
This is Kelenic’s third career stint with the Triple-A club after opening the season with Tacoma in 2021.
He appeared in only six games with the Rainiers last spring — and finished 10-for-27 with a pair of home runs during the short stint — before he was promoted to Seattle, and made his major league debut on May 13.
Following a tough stretch his first month in the big leagues, he briefly returned to Tacoma to regroup last summer, appearing in 24 games in June and early July.
Kelenic hit 30-for-98 (.306) during that month-long stay in Triple-A with seven doubles, a triple, seven home runs and 23 RBI, then returned to Seattle midway through July after appearing in his second All-Star Futures Game.
Through 123 games in the majors the past two seasons, Kelenic has hit .173/.256/.338 with 51 runs scored, 15 doubles, two triples, 17 home runs, 53 RBI, 10 stolen bases, 45 walks and 142 strikeouts.
SHORT HOPS
▪ First baseman Evan White, a first-round pick by the Mariners in 2017, has played in seven games with Tacoma since beginning a rehab assignment on May 18 after missing most of the 2021 season and the first six weeks of 2022 due to injury.
He is 3-for-22 (.136) with two runs scored, one RBI, four walks and eight strikeouts in his seven Triple-A games this spring, and has appeared at first base in five games and designated hitter twice.
▪ Mariners reliever Ken Giles (finger sprain) started a rehab assignment with Tacoma over the weekend, and made his first appearance in Sunday’s series finale against Las Vegas. He allowed one run on one hit while walking one and striking out two in one inning.
▪ The Rainiers enter the week as the Triple-A leader in stolen bases, having swiped 71 bags on 83 attempts through their first 47 games. Kelenic, Marcus Wilson and Erik Mejia each added to the total with a stolen base against the Aviators last week.
Tacoma outfielder Forrest Wall (second, 16) and infielder Sam Haggerty (tied-fourth, 13) — who was recalled by the Mariners last week — also rank among the top five in the PCL in stolen bases.
ON TAP
The Rainiers (16-31) begin a six-game series in Reno on Tuesday, then visit Salt Lake for a short three-game set beginning June 7. They return to Tacoma for a nine-game homestand beginning June 10.
This story was originally published May 31, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
