Jarred Kelenic was back with the White Sox on Friday in San Diego after the club called him up Wednesday when Everson Pereira went on the injured list with a strained muscle on the right side of his chest. Kelenic did not play in Chicago’s 8-2 win over the Padres, but his return put him back in the conversation after a spring in which he never made the team.
The White Sox optioned Kelenic down after he hit.179 in spring training, and manager Will Venable called it a tough decision. Venable said Kelenic had not really tapped into his best swing, though he also pointed to some good defensive work and a few flashes at the plate in camp. Kelenic’s first big-league appearance after the recall came Wednesday night, when he pinch-hit in the ninth inning of a 3-2, 10-inning victory against the Angels and struck out swinging.
Kelenic said the message from the club was clear: control the strike zone and let the swing that brought him this far come out. He said the White Sox were high on his talent and believed good things would follow if he got back to his “A” swing. That is the same kind of pitch Kelenic has been chasing for years, ever since the Mets chose him with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2018 draft and then sent him to Seattle on Dec. 3, 2018, in the trade that brought Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz to New York.
The numbers help explain why the White Sox were willing to try again. At Triple-A this season, Kelenic hit.202 with six home runs, 18 RBI, 16 runs scored and seven stolen bases in 26 games. He also closed strong, batting.333 with five home runs, 12 RBI and 10 runs scored over his last 10 Triple-A games. Those stretches matter for a player whose career has swung from promise to frustration, including a combined.168 average with 167 strikeouts in 147 games in 2021 and 2022 with the Mariners.
The frustration has also shown up in ways the box score cannot capture. In mid-2023, Kelenic fractured his left foot after kicking a Gatorade cooler in the home dugout out of frustration, then went on to the Braves. He said the game is hard and that he has to stick to his strengths and superpowers. He put it more bluntly than any scouting report ever could: the game can beat you down, and a player has to keep his confidence in a sport set up to fail him.
Kelenic’s path has always carried more attention than most because he was one of the highest-drafted players ever from Wisconsin, even though he never played for Waukesha West High School. After the Mets drafted him, he turned down a scholarship offer to play college ball at Louisville. The White Sox know the talent has never been the question. Friday showed the harder part, which is finding enough production, quickly enough, to make the talent matter.
