Jarred Kelenic’s title will all the time be remembered in New York. The Mets traded their prime prospect for Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz in some of the controversial strikes in franchise historical past.
Now, Kelenic is making a reputation for himself in Tacoma, Wash. After a brutal begin to his MLB profession with the Mariners that included a 0-for-39 droop, the Mariners despatched the No. 6 choose within the 2018 newbie draft to Triple-A on June 7, the place he’s engaged on the psychological facet of his sport.
“Simply understanding the controllables, the stuff that I can and may’t management,” Kelenic advised MLB.com. “This sport is likely one of the hardest video games on the earth. And whenever you’re at such a younger age, with the perfect gamers on the earth, it’s worthwhile to be taught to not let outcomes make you fluctuate how you are feeling. You’ve bought to remain constant. And so long as you do the issues you possibly can management very well, then the remainder will all maintain itself.”
His new perspective has gone a great distance. After beginning his MLB profession with a disappointing .096/.185/.193 slash line, Kelenic has returned to prominence within the minors, hitting .278/.362/.589 (.951 OPS) with seven homers, 21 RBIs, 16 strikeouts and 12 walks since his demotion.
“It wasn’t like something I hadn’t seen earlier than,” Kelenic mentioned of his MLB promotion. “Every thing there — I’ve seen the 98 mph fastball, I’ve seen a wipeout slider, I’ve seen all that stuff. It’s simply, you’re in a spot the place everyone seems to be extraordinarily, extraordinarily good.”
Kelenic referred to as his demotion a “blessing in disguise” final month, and his sentiment is justified. Whereas in Tacoma, Kelenic has been in a position to work on his weaknesses, like inside fastballs and low breaking balls.
“It was quite a lot of simply on the perimeters,” Kelenic mentioned. “It by no means got here to the guts of the plate. However right here, too, there’s pitchers which might be throwing quite a lot of off-speed stuff away, after which pounding me in to get me off of it.”
At 45-40, the Mariners are nonetheless within the hunt, sitting simply 3.5 video games behind the A’s for an AL Wild Card spot. And maybe a rejuvenated Kelenic may be the increase the Mariners as they proceed their postseason push.
