Former Mariners bust lands in the perfect place for a fresh start

Jarred Kelenic has officially entered the part of a baseball career that many thought would be impossible back when Seattle Mariners fans were counting down the days to his debut: he’s a non-roster invite on a minor league deal, trying to play his way back into relevance with the Chicago White Sox. 

For Mariners fans, the name still hits a nerve. Kelenic was supposed to be the prospect. The guy who sat top-five on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 list heading into 2021, right there in the same oxygen as the sport’s future faces. Seattle spent years selling patience, upside, and stardom. And to be fair, nobody was rooting for the outcome they received: a talented player who never consistently hit enough in the majors to justify the hype.

Jarred Kelenic lands with White Sox in a low-stakes bid for a comeback

At this point, it’s hard to talk yourself into a turnaround strictly on recent production. Kelenic’s track record has become a pile of “maybe next time” — and 2025 was especially ugly. He ran a .595 OPS in Triple-A Gwinnett and looked overmatched in a small big-league sample (.167 in 24 MLB games). That’s not even “Quad-A masher banging on the door” anymore. That’s “the door might be locked.”

However… baseball keeps doing this. Former elite prospects get extra lives. Not always because teams are sentimental. It’s because the upside is still sitting there, technically available, and believe it or not, Kelenic is still just 26. 

This is why the White Sox feel like the perfect spot for a reset: the stakes are basically nonexistent. It’s a shame it’s not Colorado, but still, this is the next best option. Kelenic has lived most of his pro career under a microscope — Mets pedigree, Mariners savior expectations, then the Braves chapter where he was supposed to be a plug-and-play guy with upside in left (and sorry, the wall-ball double pimp-job will never not be funny). Now? He can just… breathe. Chicago can stash him in Triple-A, let him tinker, and only call him up if he forces their hand.

No ill will over here in the PNW. “Bust” is a brutal word because it ignores how hard this sport is and how thin the margins are between “future star” and “change of scenery.” If Kelenic whiffs on this one, the opportunities probably dry up fast — and even the usual reclamation factories might decide he’s had one stop too many. But if there’s any environment built for a low-pressure, low-expectation swing rebuild, it’s a White Sox team that can afford to roll the dice and see if the old version of Jarred Kelenic still exists somewhere in there.