These 2021 fantasy baseball rookies aren’t in order. My Randy Arozarena 2021 fantasy and Sixto Sanchez 2021 fantasy were 1A and 1B. But this one, I don’t know where it ranks. I just wanted to get out of the bubble, unmask the ‘stache and stretch my legs with a rookie who hasn’t debuted yet. No disrespect to Cristian Pache. You did get Ian Anderson. One love to Bryse Wilson. Sorry, no Kyle Wright because he exceeds rookie eligibility–Okay, are there any rookies that aren’t Braves? Any hoo! Jarred Kelenic, who sounds like a bottled cleanse, here’s your chance to shine (and get out what the fiber couldn’t)! First off, let’s look at what Prospect Itch said about Kelenic, “He’s drawn some Christian Yelich comps for his feel for the barrel and all around game (but mostly because he’s a lefty outfielder who can hit and run, and Yelich is elite now, and people love to comp prospects to stars who are so elite any kind of comp is immediately ludicrous). Regardless of what Kelenic becomes for the Mariners, he won’t be a Metropolitan, and that trade will go down in New York lore as an early and egregious oversight of the Brodie Van reign. Amazing move by Dipoto to identify the new guy at the table–the fish looking to make a splash–and immediately dump his worst contract (Robinson Cano) and sell high closer (Edwin Diaz) in exchange for Kelenic, Justin Dunn, Jay Bruce, Anthony Swarzak and Gerson Bautista, who might’ve been the low totem pole piece here but could still impact Seattle’s future, and I’d like to impact Grey’s head.” Okay, not cool. So, that was Seattle’s best to get Kelenic, which sounds like the beginning of a coffee enema commercial, and the Mets’ worst, but real world trades aside, what about Kelenic for 2021 fantasy baseball or, rather…So, what can we expect from Jarred Kelenic in 2021 fantasy baseball?
What if I were to tell you Jarred Kelenic could be next year’s Randy Arozarena? I’m kidding, it’s just funny to overhype some guy by comparing him to a guy with, like, twelve games played. But, seriously, would Randy Arozarena 2021 interest you? Still joking. Kelenic has bigger power than Randy. Blasphemy! But it’s true. Okay, enough with the Randy nonsense. 2019 was a bit of an injury year for Kelenic, battling wrist and ankle boo-boos. By the by, ever think ghosts are booing because they don’t like what they’re seeing from humans? No? Okay. But even with some injury concerns in 19 after twenty, Kelenic still went 23/20 and .291/.364/.540 across three levels, ending in Double-A, where he went 6/3 in 21 games. He’s ready. Not much else needs to be said on his bonafides. The power grades out at 60, and the speed is 50+. To give you a sorta-applicable-comp, Kyle Tucker is 60 power, and 40 speed. Tucker who went 30/30 in Triple-A, and was on pace for that this year in the majors. No offense to Arozarena, but if I knew Kelenic was breaking camp with the M’s, he’d be above Randy in my eyes. I also promise that is the last time this postseason that I mention Randy Arozarena.
So, this comes down to when will Kelenic be promoted? Mariners have already said they plan on promoting Kelenic in 2021. “At some point” was their exact timetable, which is very non-exact. I worry he’s on a mid-June timetable, which hurts his value in redraft, uh, drafts. I’d actually be kinda shocked if he breaks camp with the M’s. He’ll be 21 to start the year, and the Mariners are in no rush to promote him. For 2021, will give Jarred Kelenic projections of 37/12/41/.269/11 in 341 ABs with a mid-June call-up, but not being called up until September is a fear too.
