Jarred Kelenic’s baseball odyssey has taken another turn, this time with the New York Yankees.
The former Seattle Mariners outfielder and once-hyped top prospect signed a minor league deal with the Yankees on Saturday and will head to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the club announced.
Kelenic, 27, was designated for assignment by the Texas Rangers on Aug. 23 and chose free agency. That made him available for yet another new stop in a career that has now run through six different MLB organizations. This is his third organization this season alone and his fourth since Seattle dealt him to the Atlanta Braves after the 2023 season.
His path since then has been a rapid shuffle. He spent 2024 and 2025 in the Braves’ system, opened 2026 in the Chicago White Sox organization, then was DFA’d and signed a minor league deal with Texas in early June.
The numbers this season show a player still trying to force his way back into a big-league role. Across 36 games and 83 plate appearances in the majors, Kelenic hit .219 with one home run and a .601 OPS. At Triple-A, though, he has been far more productive, batting .310 with 13 homers and a .992 OPS in 63 games.
For Seattle fans, Kelenic’s story still carries the weight of what might have been. He arrived as part of the blockbuster December 2018 trade that sent Edwin Díaz and Robinson Canó to the New York Mets, who had drafted Kelenic out of high school with the No. 6 overall pick earlier that year. He entered 2021 ranked as a top-five overall prospect in baseball and was viewed as a cornerstone piece for the Mariners’ future.
Instead, his Seattle tenure never matched the billing. From 2021-23, he hit .204/.283/.373 with 32 home runs and a .656 OPS over 252 games. He did show signs of progress in 2023, when he batted .253 with 11 homers and a .746 OPS in 105 games, but that season was cut short after he fractured his foot while kicking a water cooler in frustration.
Seattle moved him in December 2023, sending Kelenic, pitcher Marco Gonzales and first baseman Evan White to the Braves for pitchers Jackson Kowar and Cole Phillips. His last full season in the majors came in 2024 with Atlanta, when he hit .231 with 15 homers and a .679 OPS in 131 games.
In Other News...
Mariners Could Be Nearing The End With Several Familiar Faces
The offseason conversation around the Mariners is starting to sound less like fine-tuning and more like a possible reset of some familiar parts of the roster. Randy Arozarena, J.P. Crawford and Victor Robles are all in the mix as players who could be playing elsewhere soon, whether that comes through free agency or another route that trims payroll and changes the look of the club. For a team that has leaned on continuity in recent years, the idea of seeing multiple recognizable names move on carries some real weight.
Luke Raley also sits in a tricky spot as Seattle sorts through its arbitration-eligible group, and his case is the kind of decision that can shape the margins of an offseason. Recent performance and injury concerns have pushed him into the non-tender discussion, which is a reminder that the Mariners could be juggling more than just who to keep, but how much risk to carry into the next year. And with the possibility of a lockout hanging over the 2027 season, the urgency around these decisions only feels greater. [Read more 🡒]
Logan Gilbert Now Carries Extra Weight As Mariners Watch Exes Move
The Mariners are headed into their next matchup in Toronto with Logan Gilbert lined up opposite Max Scherzer, a pairing that adds a little extra gravity after the loss they just absorbed there. Gilbert has long been one of Seattles most important arms, and any time he is asked to match up with a name like Scherzer, it tends to feel like more than just another night on the schedule.
Around the rest of the league, a few familiar and not-so-familiar names keep moving through the transaction wire, from Jacob Wilsons shoulder surgery news with the Athletics to Luis Robert Jr. landing on waivers with the Mets and Justin Topa being designated for assignment by the Yankees. Cade Marlowe also landed with the Angels on a minor league deal, another reminder of how quickly the ex-Mariners carousel keeps turning while Seattle focuses on the game in front of it. [Read more 🡒]
Brendan Donovan Trade Is Starting To Look Worse For The Mariners
Brendan Donovans first season in Seattle has been a mixed one, which is exactly why the trade that brought him over from St. Louis is starting to invite a little more scrutiny. The Mariners added Donovan last offseason as part of a swap that sent him from a Cardinals club focused on development and rebuilding, and he has given Seattle a useful but uneven run across 39 games while dealing with injuries along the way.
The bigger question for the Mariners is what this deal might look like over time, especially with the return package still being measured in prospects and draft capital rather than proven major league help. St. Louis landed Jurrangelo Cijntje, Tai Peete and Colton Ledbetter, plus two Competitive Balance Round B picks that became Andrew Williamson and Dawson Montesa, so Seattle is left waiting to see whether Donovan can become more than a short-term piece and help justify the cost. [Read more 🡒]