SEATTLE -- Jarred Kelenic acknowledged the chasm of the setting almost immediately.
As he sat atop a dugout bench at T-Mobile Park on Monday, faced a handful of cameras and answered questions in a pre-arranged setting, even Kelenic recognized the backdrop from last July, after a self-inflicted injury from kicking a Gatorade cooler -- and the drastic difference this time, when returning to the ballpark where he made his MLB debut to face his former team.
“It feels like just yesterday when I was sitting over there crying in front of you guys talking about when I broke my foot,” Kelenic said before his Braves opened a three-game series against the Mariners.
“And I feel like ever since then, I've grown so much, just as a person and a player, really, for the better. But as a baseball player, I felt like I went through a lot of ups and downs here. I mean, a lot of emotional roller coasters. Everybody saw it. But I think when I look back at my time [here], I appreciate the good times even more.”
It’s been nine months since the incident in which Kelenic fractured his left foot and nearly five months since the trade that sent him from Seattle to Atlanta. It was a transaction that would’ve seemed so unfathomable when he was front-and-center among the Mariners’ multiyear rebuild and a player whom the organization intended to build around after acquiring him in a blockbuster deal with the Mets in 2018.
Yet, a variety of factors led to the deal that led to Monday.
Kelenic’s high moments on the field in Seattle were outnumbered by inconsistencies, as he hit .204 with a .656 OPS in 252 games, and he at times clashed with Mariners management publicly.
So when the Braves emerged as an interested trade partner, willing to absorb the expensive contracts of Marco Gonzales and Evan White to take a chance on Kelenic, the Mariners opted to move on and use the financial flexibility created via the trade to address their other roster needs.
“Things happen in baseball,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “You build relationships, equity with players, and then when it doesn't work out the way you're hoping, it's disappointing. But that happens with a lot of guys. They get traded once or twice, and then all of a sudden, something clicks for them. And there has been a player that's come through here and I have not rooted against. I'm always rooting for our guys except when we play [against them].”
“Jarred has got a lot of baseball ahead of him. I'm sure he'll do fine. The focus is on winning these games and getting him out.”
Kelenic offered a similar sentiment on how things ended with the Mariners.
“I wouldn't say regrets, because the only things that you would really regret in your life are negative things,” Kelenic said. “But for me, I feel like a lot of the negative things that happened, I really learned from it; they turned out to be really positive things in my life. So I wouldn't say that there's anything that I regret. There are things that I would do differently, obviously, looking back on it. But I'm not someone to really dwell on the past too much; [I] just constantly move forward.”
In Atlanta, Kelenic said his role has been more “relaxed,” mostly due to him hitting in the No. 9 hole in a lineup loaded with All-Stars. He’s also been in a platoon with veteran Adam Duvall. Entering Monday, Kelenic hit .305 with a .742 OPS with four doubles in 21 games (16 starts) while still seeking his first homer and stolen base, though he joked that he intends to run on Cal Raleigh this week.
“I tried to look at it as a new beginning and a new opportunity,” Kelenic said, “and no different than when I first got called up here.”
And how does he hope Mariners fans remember him?
“No different than I want my friends to remember me,” Kelenic said. “I'm a super passionate guy. I'll always miss playing in front of these fans, I'm excited to do it tonight. But I gave everything I had. And I'm going to continue to give everything I have because I felt that it's my job and it's my duty, as people that invest money to come and watch me play. ... I hope that they, regardless of the ups and downs, they saw that.”