The White Sox announced Wednesday that they’ve selected the contract of outfielder Jarred Kelenic from Triple-A Charlotte. Fellow outfielder Everson Pereira has been diagnosed with a pectoral strain and placed on the 10-day injured list. The Sox already had a 40-man vacancy, which Kelenic fills, so no additional moves are necessary.
A former top-10 pick in the draft and top-10 prospect in all of baseball, Kelenic has yet to find his footing in the majors. He’s been traded from the Mets to the Mariners (as a prospect) and then, after a lackluster run in Seattle, to the Braves in what effectively amounted to Atlanta paying close to $30MM (between bad contracts being eaten and the associated luxury taxes) in order to purchase Kelenic.
Now 26 years old, Kelenic has played in parts of five big league seasons between Seattle and Atlanta. He’s a career .211/.282/.376 hitter — about 16% worse than league-average, by measure of wRC+. The lefty-swinging outfielder has popped 49 homers and swiped 31 bags in 1488 career plate appearances, but he’s also gone down on strikes in just shy of 31% of his trips to the batter’s box.
The White Sox brought Kelenic in on a minor league deal this offseason after the Braves cut their losses and moved on. He’s hitting just .202 in Charlotte but has reached base at a .346 clip and has slugged .464. Kelenic started the season hitless in 21 plate appearances but has righted the ship since. Over his past 65 turns at the plate he’s hitting .262/.422/.600 with six homers and four doubles. He’s still fanned in a quarter of his plate appearances even during that hot streak, but he’s also drawn walks at a huge 21% clip.
Kelenic is out of minor league options, so he’ll have to stick on the roster or else be designated for assignment. With Pereira joining infield/outfield utilitymen Brooks Baldwin and Tanner Murray on the injured list, Chicago’s outfield collection right now includes Andrew Benintendi, Luisangel Acuña, Austin Hays, Tristan Peters, Sam Antonacci and Kelenic. It’s anything but a settled and established group, so Kelenic could well have an opportunity to carve out some playing time if he hits the ground running.
The 25-year-old Pereira is a former top prospect himself. He was out to a decent start this season, hitting .250/.310/.453 with three homers in 71 trips to the plate. Like Kelenic, he comes with major swing-and-miss concerns. He’d fanned in 29.6% of those 71 plate appearances and posted a well below-average 66.2% contact rate. The Sox picked him up in a minor offseason trade sending relievers Steven Wilson and Yoendrys Gomez to the Rays.
There’s a beer can on this website that will be happy.
Not this beer can, though I wish him the best.
Let’s goooo! Hope he does good, loved him in Seattle
Beast mode!
Somewhere Max Kepler is lurking….
Chicago is about to witness Jarred’s .188 average. Let’s Go!!!!
Pereira was hitting pretty well but at least Hays is back so he probably takes his place in a corner for now. Kelenic now battles with Antonacci for the other corner spot. But with Acuna not hitting at all so far, I wonder if they look to get Antonacci some reps in center because when Pereira comes back, an outfield of Hays, Antonacci, and Pereira wouldn’t be too bad, unless they just play Pereira in center when he comes back
Antonacci is a lock in the every day lineup in my opinion
He should be. The lefty hitter has been kept out of the starting lineup occasionally versus LHP. Will Venable does have him starting today versus Angel southpaw Yusei Kikuchi.
I have watched several AAA games this year where he seemed quite overmatched.
Kelenic needs to improve his batting eye, gobbs of stikeouts, very ilttle walks. With that, he is a better batter than Hill and younger and could take his spot if he can shiw some life.
I hope Kelenic finally unlocks something, but the odds are against it.
Another shot (last one?) In the Show for Kelenic. Make it last buddy!