What Recent Roster Move Says About Braves' Stance on Jarred Kelenic

As the offseason moves get underway, the Atlanta Braves ripped the band-aid off and made the move to remove Jarred Kelenic from the 40-man roster. He was outrighted in the shakeup on Wednesday night. 

It’s hard to say if this move is surprising, per se, but it’s telling. The experiment to see if they could make something out of a former Mariners top prospect is reaching its conclusion. 

The writing was on the wall much earlier. When they signed Jurickson Profar, it was a clear sign that the Braves felt their in-house options for the outfield weren’t going to cut it. Now, his future is as uncertain as ever. While we don’t know what’s next yet, the Braves look ready to wipe their hands clean. 

With his low salary of $2.3 million last season, it was worth it to see if the hot streak he went on during the summer of 2024 could be the real version of him. Instead, he regressed further. In 24 games this season, he batted .167 with a .531 OPS and two home runs. 

The standout moment for him this season was being slow out of the box, getting tagged out at second base and having a controversy involving Brian Snitker and Ronald Acuña Jr. follow.  

His showing in Triple-A after he was sent down only added insult to injury. He batted .213 with a .595 OPS in 95 games played with Gwinnett. 

Meanwhile, during the carousel of outfielders, others rose to take his spot. The most notable example is Eli White, who was a solid fourth outfielder this season. Jake Fraley is also still under team control and is also arbitration eligible. When he was healthy, he played well for the Braves. 

At some point, Kelenic ultimately became the odd man out. 

Nobody is ever rooting for someone to fail. It would have made for a great story if Kelenic could have benefited from a fresh start in Atlanta. When he was looking good two summers ago, the trade to acquire him was looking like a steal. 

Unfortunately for him, a reality check has to come at some point. Now, we wait to see what comes next. 

There is a scenario where he gets traded, but it would need to come sooner rather than later. Kelenic is arbitration-eligible, and they have to decide if they want to go that route, which they didn’t last offseason, or decide how they want to avoid it. 

Trading him is obviously one way, but that’s not the type of route being implied here. The Braves could simply non-tender him, and he becomes a free agent. In theory, they could non-tender him and bring him back on a minor league deal. It’s not an unheard-of scenario. Again, that’s a wait-and-see decision. 

This decision was merely the first step. There is still more to find out.

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