The Texas Rangers have signed outfielder Jarred Kelenic to a minor league contract, per the beats. He will be joining Round Rock.
Kelenic, 26, is a lefthanded hitting corner outfielder was the sixth overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft by the New York Mets, and was traded to the Seattle Mariners as part of the Robinson Cano/Edwin Diaz trade. He was a consensus top 10 prospect heading into the 2021 season, but struggled mightily that first year, and ended up being sent back down to AAA for a month. After
another down year in 2022, splitting the year between AAA and the majors, but had a solid 2023 season for Seattle.
Kelenic was sent to Atlanta that offseason, along with Marco Gonzalez and Evan White, in exchange for Cole Phillips and Jackson Kowar. The deal was essentially dumping the ugly contracts that White and Gonzalez had on the Braves, while sending them Kelenic to make it worth Atlanta’s while. Gonzalez and White were shipped off within a couple of days by Atlanta, leaving them with Kelenic as their prize.
Kelenic didn’t hit well in 2024, however, and spent most of 2025 in AAA, where he didn’t hit, either. He was released at the end of 2025, and signed with the Chicago White Sox in January of this year. He started the year in AAA, but was called up in late April. After putting up a .226/.305/.321 slash line in the majors, he was designated for assignment a few days ago, cleared waivers, and became a free agent.
Kelenic was once seen as a future star with a tremendous potential at the plate. At this point, he’s AAA depth for the Rangers, though I imagine they hope to try to get him back on track offensively, at least to performing the way he was in 2023.
