The Seattle Mariners beat the Atlanta Braves on Monday night, 2-1, thanks to a walk-off home run from slugger Mitch Garver.
While the walk-off homer was excellent, as was the pitchers duel between Max Fried and Bryce Miller, what happened before the game was also interesting as Braves' outfielder Jarred Kelenic addressed the Seattle media for the first time since being traded from the Mariners this offseason.
Adam Jude of the Seattle Times provided a portion of the video:
"...I've grown so much as a person and a player, for the better, but as a baseball player, I felt like I went through a lof ups-and-downs here, a lot of emotional rollercoasters and everybody saw it. When I look back at my time, I appreciate the good times even more..."
The Marine Layer podcast also posted some of the video on "X," with Kelenic describing the moment he found out he was being traded.
The 24-year-old Kelenic was acquired by the Mariners after the 2018 season in the deal that sent Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz to the New York Mets and he was supposed to join Julio Rodriguez as the next great stars of the organization. Unfortunately, it just didn't happen for Kelenic in Seattle and he was dealt to Atlanta this past offseason.
Though he always played hard and hit some mammoth home runs, he hit just .204 in parts of three seasons with Seattle. He's in a strict platoon with the Braves right now and is hitting .306 with no homers and four RBI.
The Mariners' fans gave Kelenic some applause during his first at-bat on Monday. The two teams play again on Tuesday night.
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