Mariners Injury Updates: Status of Kelenic, plan for return

Seattle Mariners general manager Justin Hollander gave an extensive but mostly encouraging injury update to the assembled media Friday before Game 1 of their six-game homestand. At the top of the list, the latest on Jarred Kelenic, whose broken foot has been out of a walking boot for about a week now.

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“He’s moving around and made significant progress in the last five days,” Hollander said. “The hope is that as we transition into the tail end of this homestand and into our road trip that he is transitioning into a rehab program with Tacoma.”

Hollander stressed that it would be a “real rehab assignment” with the Triple-A Rainiers as Kelenic has been out for a significant amount of time. Having suffered the injury on July 19, Kelenic will need to get his timing down and feel fully confident of the soundness of his foot.

“I know he’s already been in Arizona watching pitchers off Trajekt the entire time he’s been in there,” Hollander said. “He’s hitting off the Trajekt now. He will push himself to the brink, but we will make sure that he’s ready to play major league games here. It won’t be a thing where he’s easing into major league action in the middle of a pennant race. That’s that’s too much to ask of him or really anybody.”

How Kelenic will fit into the mix has been a popular question of late. Left field has been held down by a combination of Cade Marlowe, Dylan Moore and Dominic Canzone, with the trio putting up a line of .267/.350/ .513 for an .863 OPS with a wRC+ of 141 since June 20, the day Kelenic was placed on the injured list. For Hollander, the Mariners should have no problem finding playing time for him.

“One of our best defensive outfielders, for big stretches of the season he has been one of our best hitters,” Hollander responded when asked about fitting Kelenic back into the lineup. “We will find a way. Even with everybody playing the way they are, he fits on our team and we will be thrilled to get him back. He was probably our most consistent offensive player for a two-month stretch of the season to start and, you know, I have no reason to believe he won’t come in and hit the ground running.”

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• Veteran left-handed pitcher Marco Gonzales had a procedure to release the tension around a nerve in his forearm. Based on how the surgery went, the hope is Gonzales will have a normal offseason and preparation for the next season, according to Hollander.

• Catcher Tom Murphy (thumb) was given clearance Friday to take his baseball activities to the next level.

“Some of this is just going to be a pain/discomfort tolerance thing,” Hollander said. “Like with Jarred, Murph’s pain tolerance is probably greater than like 99.9% of all people. But he is progressing.”

Most of the pain Murphy has experienced since suffering the injury has come on the offensive side, gripping and swinging the bat.

• Rookie right-hander Emerson Hancock (right shoulder strain) recently received a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection for what was diagnosed as a Grade 1+ strain – no tear. Rest and rehab will take at a minimum 6-8 weeks and Hancock will then have the injury further looked at.

“Emerson specifically asked us to use the time to see if we can find out why this has happened a couple times to him and work towards a program that tries to limit this from happening ever again,” Hollander said. “He’s pretty determined to show that this is a sort of a two-off freak thing and not wanting to be a recurring thing.”

• Rookie right-handed reliever Ty Adcock did not allow a run in his first nine games after his MLB debut but then gave up six in his next three before being sent down, and he has disappeared from the map after making just one appearance at Double-A Arkansas. He has been dealing with elbow soreness and recently had a PRP injection. The prognosis, uncertain.

“He was plateauing in his throwing program,” Hollander said. “It’ll be a week or so until it calms down and hopefully he is throwing again. No real timetable on whether he can get back in time for the regular season to finish. Hopefully the PRP helps.”

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