Ex-Mariners OF Jarred Kelenic DFA’d by AL West rival

Former Seattle Mariners outfielder and one-time top prospect Jarred Kelenic was designated for assignment by the AL West rival Texas Rangers on Monday, less than a month after he signed a minor league contract with the club.

It’s the second time this season that the 26-year-old Kelenic has been DFA’d, as he was previously released May 30 by the Chicago White Sox.

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The Rangers signed pitcher Chris Paddack and selected the contract of utilityman Cameron Cauley from Triple-A Round Rock on Monday, with Kelenic and pitcher Joe Ross both DFA’d to make room on their active roster. Texas (43-42) moved ahead of Seattle (43-43) in the AL West standings over the weekend and enters Tuesday with a half-game lead atop the division.

Kelenic, who began the season on a minor league deal with Chicago, has split the year between Triple-A and the majors. He hit .226 with one home run, two doubles and a .626 OPS in 19 games with the White Sox and went 1 for 8 in seven games with the Rangers.

Once considered a cornerstone of the Mariners’ future, the lefty-hitting Kelenic entered the 2021 season 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 that summer.

But Kelenic never lived up to lofty expectations in Seattle, slashing .204/.283/.373 for a .656 OPS with 32 home runs 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 Atlanta Braves in exchange for pitchers Jackson Kowar and Cole Phillips.

Kelenic spent the 2024 and 2025 seasons in the Braves’ organization. He hit .231 with 15 homers and a .679 OPS in 131 games with Atlanta in 2024, but spent most of the 2025 season with Triple-A Gwinnett. In 2025, hit just .167 with two homers in 24 games with the Braves before he was outrighted off their 40-man roster and elected free agency.

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