If a change of scenery can often do wonders for a player in Major League Baseball, certainly two changes of scenery could work miracles for a player. For the Atlanta Braves, this is the hope after they acquired outfielder Jarred Kelenic from the Seattle Mariners a few weeks ago. After three fairly uninspired years with the Mariners, Kelenic finds himself with the historic Braves with a chance to reroute his big league career and finally achieve his potential. No doubt he is a talented player, but can he finally find a way to blossom with the Braves?

Considered one of the top prospects of the 2018 draft, Kelenic was selected sixth overall by the New York Mets out of  Waukesha West High School in Wisconsin. In December that very same year, he was included in a player package in a blockbuster trade that sent Robinson Canó, Edwin Díaz and cash to the Mets. Kelenic immediately went to work in 2019 with his new organization. Spanning 117 games across three different levels in the farm system, Kelenic batted .291/.364/.540 with 23 home runs and 20 stolen bases while reaching Double-A. In 2020 he dazzled at the Mariners’ alternate training site and entering 2021 was considered one of the top prospects in all of baseball.

MLB.com’s scouting report read as follows:

“The top-ranked high school bat in the 2018 Draft class has more than lived up to that advanced billing. He makes consistently hard contact and drives the ball to all fields. He missed the memo about power being the last tool to show up in games in 2020 and he routinely found the seats in alternate camp as well, especially to his pull side, all with an advanced approach that includes limiting strikeouts and a willingness to draw walks.

His arm and his speed give him two more plus tools, giving him the speed to continue to steal bases and play center field while also having the arm to work well in right if needed. The Mariners challenged him with becoming more of a leader at the alternate camp in 2020 and despite turning just 21 during the summer, he more than rose to the challenge, paving the way for him to start reaching his potential as an All-Star very soon.”

Kelenic was on the fast track to the big leagues after starting the 2021 season in Triple-A, he produced a 1.016 OPS in 30 Triple-A games before being promoted to Seattle. There was obvious excitement about his promotion at the age of 21 but it quickly became evident he wasn’t quite ready or prepared for the adversity to come at the big league level. Despite showing off some power with 14 home runs in 93 games, Kelenic slashed .181/.265/.350 with 106 strikeouts and 36 walks in his rookie season. The following season was more of the same where he thrived in Triple-A but struggled immensely when promoted to the Mariners.

That’s why the start of 2023 was so promising for fans and for Kelenic himself. Through the first 27 games of the season, he had seven home runs and a .988 OPS along with a .309 AVG. However, he then struggled through the next 63 games where he had a .666 OPS and just four home runs with a .223 AVG. Sure he did manage 30 RBI but his overall production was lacking, including 11 games where he had three strikeouts. His frustrations finally bubbled over and he broke his foot after kicking a cooler in the dugout out of anger. Kelenic was then sidelined until September when he turned in some unremarkable numbers.

So, he now finds himself with the third franchise of his young career with a chance to reinvent himself and live up to that scouting report mentioned earlier. But how exactly could he go about achieving that?

First and foremost is learning to master himself. During an introductory press conference via video call, Kelenic expressed some insight he gained after breaking his foot, “I took a step back, I just like kept thinking to myself, ‘What am I doing?’ Like, I’m not happy, like I’m way too frustrated, I’m letting my emotions get the best of me, I’m not even enjoying this,” Kelenic said. “It made me take a step back and realize how lucky and how thankful I am to be in the position that I am.”

Kelenic is well on his way to learning to control those emotions better and heading to the Braves could provide a lot of help in that department. The Braves are certainly taking a gamble on Kelenic but if any organization could mold him into the star he can be it’s going to be the Braves. The Braves produced the top offense in baseball last season, which not only could take some pressure off of Kelenic to produce, allowing him to not press but could help enhance his game and improve his overall offensive profile.

Kelenic has no shortage of power. When he can connect he has managed a 41% career hard-hit rate with a 10% barrel rate. The Braves can certainly help him improve his power by improving his quality of contact. In 2023 Kelenic had a 43% ground ball rate and a 28.1% fly ball rate and a 52% contact rate on pitches outside of the strike zone. Add this to the fact that he has a career 30.7% strikeout rate (the MLB average is 22.8%) and you can see that there are glimpses of a great bat, but mostly unrefined. Kelenic often finds himself swinging at bad pitches, making weak contact, or just whiffing entirely. His BABIP suggests he should be about a league-average hitter, but the results are not complying with that statistical projection.

This isn’t to say he doesn’t have some offensive positives. As mentioned, he does have power and the ability to hit for extra bases. Last season he knocked 23 doubles, two triples, and 11 home runs. He is mainly a pull hitter and regularly hits to center field which lends itself to power. Unfortunately, this means that opposing pitchers will often attack the outside part of the plate, trying to force the contract to left field. Knowing this, Kelenic does have a keen eye for drawing walks. His 9.6% walk rate is above league average, which could prove to be a useful tool as he continues to refine his approach. By continuing to improve his plate vision, he will hopefully continue to improve strikeout numbers while improving his overall batting profile.

Kelenic has a chance to become the star he was meant to be with the Braves. A historic franchise that has plenty of success with young players can do wonders for him. They believe in Kelenic and they must have confidence in their ability to help him improve on and off the field as a player. He is still young and eager to compete and 2024 will go a long way in proving that he is capable of taking the steps necessary to blossom the way he was destined to.