The White Sox sign an outfielder Jarred Kelenic to a minor league deal, according to a report from Jesse Rogers of ESPN. Kelenic’s deal includes an undrafted invitation to major league Spring Training in February.
Kelenic, 26, was drafted sixth overall by the Mets in 2018 and exploded into a top-five hitter early in his professional career. Kelenic’s prospect status saw him sent to the Mariners as part of a proposed deal Edwin Diaz to Queens, and at the time the deal was considered a coup for Seattle because of Kelenic’s star power. Unfortunately, the outfielder is now five years into his MLB career and has yet to combine at the big league level.
After hitting at a below average rate in 147 games in the 2021 and ’22 seasons, Kelenic finally seemed to come into his own in 2023. That year, he slashed a respectable .253/.327/.419 with a 110 wRC+ in 105 games. He hit 11 homers with 25 doubles and swiped 13 bags in 18 attempts. While that combination of decent power and speed with a respectable 9.9% walk rate was encouraging, Kelenic was held back in a big way by the strikeout. His 31.7% strikeout rate would have been the fourth highest in the majors that year had he had enough plate appearances to qualify, just before that. Teoscar Hernandez again Eugenio Suarez they led the group. That led the Mariners to try to rebuild their program with a major focus on pitching for the 2023-24 season, and part of that effort was the deal that sent Kelenic to Atlanta that winter.
Joining the Braves gave Kelenic a fresh start, but he didn’t make much of an impact despite getting the lion’s share of playing time in left field. With Atlanta, Kelenic reached career highs in games played (131) and plate appearances (449) but managed a wRC+ of just 87 as his walk rate and BABIP both dropped significantly while his strikeout rate remained a very high 29.6%. A .286 on-base percentage is hard to define no matter how much power it offers, but Kelenic’s 15 homers and 35 extra-base hits in 2024 weren’t going to cut it.
That led to Atlanta moving away from using Kelenic in a starting role this past year, instead signing players similar to him. Jurickson Profar again Alex Verdugo trying to fill the hole in the left field. A PED suspension from Profar and deep struggles from Verdugo were enough to earn Kelenic another shot at the majors, but he struggled in that opportunity and hit just .167/.231/.300 in 24 games with a 47 wRC+ and a 35.7% strikeout rate. Those numbers were unplayable at the big league level and left Kelenic spending most of his time in the minors last year. Unfortunately, he also struggled with the Triple-A team in Gwinnett. For the Stripers, Kelenic hit just .213/.286/.309 in 95 games. While Kelenic’s hitting and on-base woes continued last year, his power completely evaporated.
All of those issues led to the Braves designating Kelenic for active duty earlier this year, and he opted for major league free agency in October. The outfielder is more of a project than a sure thing at this point in his career, but given that he’s only 26 years old it’s understandable that the newly rebuilt White Sox have played with talent in the best of looks. If Kelenic shows he has more in the tank, he could likely compete for a job at the right position Brooks Baldwin like Luis Robert Jr. again Andrew Benintendi cover the middle and left fields respectively. A trade for Robert or even Benintendi wouldn’t be out of the question given Chicago’s status as one of the league’s few rebuilding clubs, and a deal to send either of the two out of town would create a greater opportunity for Kelenic to find grass-roots work in the majors.
