We’re not making s&%^ up about Jarred Kelenic’s stance

It’s easier to number the interruptions than the smooth transitions in Jarred Kelenic’s short professional career. A trade just months after his draft day out of high school. His lone “normal” year of 2019, soaring from then-Low-A West Virginia to then-High-A Modesto and eventually Double-A Arkansas, concluding with mild injuries that held him out of most of the Arizona Fall League. Then, COVID struck the 2020 minor league season from the record, disgraced former Seattle Mariners team president Kevin Mather did his blathering, and finally 2021 rolled around, giving Kelenic a month and a half of time in Tacoma before struggling immensely in his initial call-up, tweaking his mechanics back from an initial shift, and finishing strong with a September/October to dream on. And yet, instead of rolling into 2022 with a through line of communication and development, the owners’ lockout this winter forbid 40-man roster players like Kelenic from any contact or workouts with club personnel, ensuring radio silence for the young outfielder from anyone in the organization until the relatively sudden conclusion of the lockout on March 10th.

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