White Sox call up Jarred Kelenic just in time for revenge tour vs. Mariners

You can make the legitimate case that baseball is the most romantic of all the sports in North America, often making you feel like you've gone back in time when you're watching a game. And yet it can still illicit less positive feelings such as revenge, something which you imagine Jarred Kelenic has in mind when it comes to the Mariners.

Kelenic was called up by the White Sox on Wednesday after Everson Pereira was placed on the 10-day Injured List with a pectoral stain, which means there's a genuine chance he will get to face his former team. The Mariners will be in Chicago for a three-game series beginning on May 8, and no one will be more motivated than their former top-rated prospect.

Mariners fans are well aware of Kelenic's five-year tenure with the organization, with no one ever doubting his talent, but never seeming able to put it all together mentally and get out of his own way. He was an extremely emotional player and eventually this proved to be his undoing, as a fractured left foot from kicking a water cooler in frustration all but sealed his one-way ticket out of Seattle.

Jarred Kelenic continued to almost self-sabotage after leaving the Mariners

Despite it being Kelenic's lack of emotional stability which contributed to being traded to Atlanta following the 2023 season, he seemingly didn't learn from this. He was still in his feelings during an interview with Foul Territory in early 2024, as he ripped into the Mariners front office, particularly focusing in on president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto.

This added more evidence that the Mariners made the correct decision in moving Kelenic, with it only being further reinforced as he provided diminishing returns during his two seasons with the Braves organization. They eventually parted ways and he subsequently signed a minor league deal with the White Sox for the 2026 season, but he continued his fall from grace and through 11 games in Triple-A Charlotte he was just 2-for-32 with one RBI and a horrific .299 OPS.

Then, when it seemed like Kelenic was all but finished, something finally clicked as he turned a corner on April 12 and started mashing. He slugged .692 with a 1.123 OPS and 176 wRC+ and included a streak of home runs in four consecutive games, which helped convince the White Sox to give him his shot.

Even at his lowest ebb Jarred Kelenic never lost faith in his abilities

For his part, you have to credit Kelenic for not losing confidence in himself, to the point he put his brutal start to this season down to a case of bad luck. He said: "I knew that at some point if I just kept doing what I was doing, that the ball was going to start falling and finding some grass and that's what finally happening."

Admittedly, it will be a little weird if Kelenic does play against the M's and goes off against them next weekend, but this doesn't mean there will be any newfound regret about letting him leave. It was never going to work out for him in Seattle, and the reality is he needed a change of scenery to see if he could finally fulfil his potential.

As polarizing as Kelenic was, you still get the feeling there's plenty of Mariners fans rooting for him to put it all together and play regularly in the majors. For our part, if he does end up getting some measure of revenge on the M's, we'll tip our cap to him in keeping with the romance of this wonderful game.

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