The Seattle Mariners sent top prospect Jarred Kelenic down to the minor leagues on Monday, and baseball fans had some thoughts.
The Seattle Mariners received one of the top prospects in the game in Jarred Kelenic following their trade with the New York Mets for Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz back in 2018. This May, the Mariners finally decided to call up Kelenic to make his major league debut, in hopes of him bing a spark in the team’s batting order. Those plans and expectations did not come to fruition.
After nearly a month with the team, the Mariners decided to option Kelenic back down to Triple-A Tacoma on Monday. In a corresponding move, the team activated infielder Shed Long off the 60-day injured list.
Baseball fans decided to share their thoughts on Kelenic’s less than ideal start to his major league career.
Mariners: Baseball fans react to Seattle demoting Jarred Kelenic
In Seattle’s spring training, Kelenic slashed .300/.440/.700 while recording two home runs, five RBI, six hits and seven runs scored in 10 games. Despite that, the Mariners opted to send Kelenic down to Triple-A to start the 2020 season. Kelenic played in six games for Tacoma, where he recorded a .370 batting average, a 1.043 OPS, two home runs and five RBI.
Upon receiving a call-up, Kelenic hit his first major league home run in his second-ever game against the Cleveland Indians. After that, the hits became few and far between. Up until Monday when he was optioned to Triple-A, Kelenic was actually in the middle of an 0-for-39 slump.
In his 23 appearances, Kelenic slashed .096/.185/.378 with two home runs, six RBI, seven runs scored, eight hits and 26 strikeouts.
While Kelenic’s start to his major league career did not go as planned, he has the opportunity to improve his game in Triple-A and come back to Seattle better than ever.