Ex-Mariners OF Kelenic signs minor league deal with Yankees

Former Seattle Mariners outfielder and one-time top prospect Jarred Kelenic signed a minor league contract with the New York Yankees and will report to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the club announced on Saturday.

Kelenic, 27, was designated for assignment by the Texas Rangers on Aug. 23 and elected free agency.

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Kelenic is now with his sixth different MLB organization – including his third organization this season and his fourth since Seattle traded him to the Atlanta Braves following the 2023 season.

Kelenic spent 2024 and 2025 in the Braves’ organization. He then began 2026 in the Chicago White Sox’s organization, but was DFA’d and signed a minor league deal with the Rangers in early June.

Kelenic has split this season between Triple-A and the majors. At the MLB level this year, he has batted .219 with one home run and a .601 OPS in 83 plate appearances across 36 games. At Triple-A, he’s batting .310 with 13 homers and a .992 OPS in 63 games.

Once considered a cornerstone of the Mariners’ future, the lefty-hitting Kelenic entered 2021 as a top-five overall prospect in baseball. The M’s had acquired Kelenic as part of a blockbuster December 2018 trade that sent All-Stars 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.

But Kelenic never lived up to lofty expectations in Seattle, slashing .204/.283/.373 with 32 homers and a .656 OPS over 252 games from 2021-23. He showed some promise in 2023 while batting .253 with 11 homers and a .746 OPS in 105 games, but his season was derailed due to a fractured his foot suffered while kicking a water cooler in frustration.

In December 2023, the Mariners traded Kelenic, pitcher Marco Gonzales and first baseman Evan White to the Braves in exchange for pitchers Jackson Kowar and Cole Phillips. Kelenic’s last full season in the majors was in 2024, when he hit .231 with 15 homers and a .679 OPS in 131 games with Atlanta.

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