Seattle Mariners left fielder Jarred Kelenic Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Mariners option scuffling top prospect Jarred Kelenic to Triple-A

In his second MLB regular-season appearance, Seattle Mariners rookie outfielder and top prospect Jarred Kelenic notched three hits and blasted his first career home run versus the Cleveland Indians on May 14: 

That may feel like a lifetime ago at this point.

On Monday, Seattle optioned the slumping Kelenic to Triple-A Tacoma as part of multiple roster moves. The decision makes all kinds of sense. Kelenic is batting a woeful .096 with two home runs, six RBI and 26 strikeouts through 23 games.

Per Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times, Mariners manager Scott Servais said over the weekend he wasn't overly concerned about the 21-year-old even though, according to RotoWire, was hitless in his last 37 at-bats before Monday's development. 

"He certainly is struggling right now," Servais said of Kelenic on Saturday. "He is putting a little bit of pressure on himself, like all guys do when they struggle. It’s no different than anybody else. And that’s young guys. That’s for guys that have a couple of years in the league or are veteran guys. So, you know, we’ll evaluate it day-to-day like we did everybody else. But he did a heck of a job in center field (Friday night). You know, he made a couple of outstanding plays. He’s a good baseball player. He’s just not getting a whole lot of hits, and a lot of luck." 

The Mariners began Monday at 30-31 overall and in third place in the American League West standings, five games back of the first-place Oakland Athletics. 

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