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By Ben Watanabe
Contributing Sports Writer
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Once upon a time, there was nobody you'd rather be in baseball than Jarred Kelenic.
The No. 6 overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft by the New York Mets, Kelenic had it all. Barely out of high school, Kelenic already was the owner of two gold medals with the U.S. junior national team. His left-handed swing was considered the best in the nation. It made perfect sense that his pick was sandwiched between the Cincinnati Reds selecting Jonathan India and the San Diego Padres taking Ryan Weathers.
Kelenic was simply too good to fail -- expect he has. Over and over again.
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The Round Rock Express, the Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers, gave Kelenic his walking papers on Sunday. In his still-young six-year MLB career, Kelenic has been a part of four organizations. All have found reason not to keep him, and it's hard to argue with them. His .211 career batting average and low power production relative to his strikeout rate illustrate a player who, for all his talent, has never figured it out.
Yet is it necessarily too late for Kelenic to recapture some of his past promise?
Given how long Kelenic has been kicking around, it's amazing to discover he only just turned 27 years old. Endless examples exist of smooth-swinging lefties who took a long time to develop, and Kelenic has a leg up in a way; in 2023, at age 23, Kelenic slugged .419 with a 111 OPS+ for the Seattle Mariners. At the time, the M's were able to feel some vindication for his inclusion in the trade that sent Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz to the Mets.
He was Seattle's No. 1 prospect, ranked higher than Julio Rodriguez, George Kirby, Cal Raleigh and Logan Gilbert. But he ran just a bit too hot.
Kelenic wore his frustration on his sleeve after every strikeout. Fire can be good, but too much fire is self-destructive. Kelenic's development seemed to be halted by his own inability to take a step back, disconnect his shortcomings from his disgust with himself, and apply what needed to be done to improve.
That's why it's ultimately unlikely Kelenic has some sort of late-20s renaissance. His .343 BABIP suggests he's actually overperforming, which is somewhat terrifying. And while his 54.5% hard-hit percentage plays well, the reality is he doesn't make contact enough for it to matter. His strikeout rate is going in the wrong direction. As a rookie, he struck out 28.1% of the time; in his last two partial seasons, he's striking out more than 35% of the time.
Talent is talent, however, and Kelenic still has oodles of it. Perhaps some bottom feeder takes a chance on a lost cause, if for nothing else than to fill an outfield spot a couple days a week. The Kelenic story doesn't have to be over. There's still time for a bust to transform into something resembling a real big leaguer.
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