Jarred Kelenic
One of the Braves' newest additions, Jarred Kelenic comes to town loaded with promise as well as a lot of questions. Drafted with the sixth overall pick by the Mets in the 2018 draft, Kelenic was traded to Seattle before the 2019 season and promptly rocketed through the minor league ranks while establishing himself as one of the better prospects in all of baseball.
However, things got weird once he made his made his big league debut. Kelenic showed flashes of the promise he had at the plate at times, but only put up a .589 OPS in his first two seasons in the big leagues. 2023 was better for him, but he still only slashed .253/.327/.419 slash line fueled by a hot start and he had issues containing his frustrations at times. Seattle decided to move on and trade Kelenic to the Braves earlier this offseason.
The cost for the Braves to acquire Kelenic was substantial as they had to take on some bad money in addition to giving up both Jackson Kowar and Cole Phillips in the deal. However, Kelenic's upside as a potential five tool player with an All-Star ceiling was too good to pass up. With Eddie Rosario on the free agent market, Kelenic is currently slated to get the lion's share of the playing time in left field in 2024.
How Kelenic's first year with the Braves goes will determine a lot. The Braves have him under team control through 2028, but he is a Super Two player which means that he gets an extra year of arbitration starting in 2025. If he shows out this season, his arbitration figures could get very costly pretty quickly for an Atlanta team that already has guys getting more and more expensive as the years go on. In that world, inking Kelenic to a cost-controlled extension while getting a year or two more of team control could become an attractive option.