The Atlanta Braves are in desperate need of some offense from their outfield. While things have been better as of late now that they have Ronald Acuña Jr. back in the mix, there’s only so much he can do. That lack of outfield depth has led to Braves fans looking far and wide to try to find players who can provide some instant offense.
One of those players mentioned has been Jarred Kelenic, who played in 23 games with the Braves in April before being sent down to Triple-A.
And while he has the top prospect pedigree and track record of success from 2021, he hasn’t done anything since getting demoted to prove that he deserves another shot with the Braves.
Jarred Kelenic has somehow been even worse in the minors
As of Tuesday, Kelenic has hit .221 across 36 games with a 25.7% strikeout rate. He has a wRC+ of 77, meaning that he’s been 23% worse than the average Triple-A player. That doesn’t exactly scream “capable, everyday major league player.”
For those wondering, Jarred Kelenic’s numbers at Triple-A:
— Matt Chrietzberg (@BravesMattC) June 10, 2025
36 G, 148 PA
.221/.311/.328
11.5% BB, 25.7% K
77 wRC+
Those numbers aren’t getting him a call back to Atlanta anytime soon.
As our Fred Owens pointed out earlier this year, the Braves’ trade for Kelenic has been horrible for a variety of reasons.
Not only did it require them to take on some horrible contracts for players that they then traded away, but it also meant that they needed to give Kelenic enough runway to earn a shot in MLB. It hasn’t worked out at all. Kelenic slashing .222/.279/.381 across 154 games with the Braves, and was barely holding onto his roster spot this year before eventually being demoted.
The height of Kelenic’s career came at the start of 2023 when he started the year red-hot before going into a free fall that ended with him breaking his foot kicking a cooler.
But it’s not as if Kelenic is just to blame for Atlanta’s outfield failures. They spent $42 million on Jurickson Profar only for him to get suspended for PEDs. They were able to grab Alex Verdugo on a discount deal, but he’s been ineffective (.247 average in 42 games). Couple all that with Michael Harris II’s struggles, and the Braves outfield looks more like a tar pit than a winning unit.
And even if Kelenic isn’t all to blame, his struggles are the perfect personification of Atlanta’s struggles. The Braves put their faith in him to get better (or, on the flip side, were too cheap to splurge on an upgrade) and now they’re reaping what they’ve sowed.
The Braves’ seven-run outburst on Monday only marked the fourth time that they’ve scored 5+ runs in their last 15 games. It was also perhaps the quintessential Braves game — Acuña hit a home run and Austin Riley, Marcell Ozuna and Ozzie Albies had multi-hit games.
As this season has shown, they’re going to need more than that if they want to stack up wins. Adding Kelenic unfortunately won’t help with that.