*Photo from SoDo Mojo*
It looks like the prized prospect of the Seattle Mariners will be missing some time. Mariners top prospect Jarred Kelenic has been diagnosed with a grade 2 strain of his left adductor muscle, according to Mariners manager Scott Servais. An MRI revealed the strain on Saturday, and Kelenic will be out for the immediate future. There is no current timeline for his recovery.
Servais said Kelenic would be out for a little bit, and also said in his press conference that "I feel bad for him. He needs to play. Knowing him, he's a very intense young man, he's going to do everything he can to get back on the field as soon as he can."
Kelenic, the 4th ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline, sustained the injury during the Mariners spring training game on Friday against the Chicago White Sox. After coming out of the batter's box, Kelenic appeared to tweak his knee, and was in pain. He left the game after his second at bat, and was scheduled for an MRI a day later, which revealed the strain.
Kelenic, who was recently the target of service time manipulation comments by former Mariners president and CEO Kevin Mather, said after those comments leaked that "I’m a competitor. I'm a very driven person as it is. Having said that, you know, something like this comes up and I think you can look at it one of two ways: One, you can sit and pout about it, or you can use it as motivation and let it drive me even more. That’s kind of where I’m at. Each and every day I’m letting this drive me."
Despite Kelenic's motivation to make the major leagues, the injury likely means Kelenic won't be on the opening day roster for the Mariners, largely due to the time needed to heal, recover, and rehab his knee. If Kelenic is not on the active roster by April 16, he will not accrue a full year of service time, and will have another season of control by the Mariners.
Kelenic was having a very good spring training season, before he injured himself on Friday afternoon. Kelenic has been mashing long home runs on the practice fields since spring training began, and hit the first homer of the spring season by the Mariners on Wednesday against the Cubs. Kelenic is in camp as a non roster invitee, as he is not yet on the 40 man roster for the Mariners.
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