We’re three weeks into the season and getting a good feel of who some of the surprise players are. A few of these players are fringe prospects – players who have had a good year or two in the minors, may be in an organization’s top 10 list, but are not on any top 100 prospects lists.
But some of these early breakout players are former top prospects who have not lived up to expectations over the past year or two. One of those players is Jarred Kelenic of the Seattle Mariners.
Kelenic has been on the radar screen of dynasty owners for years. Coming out of high school he was one of the best pure hitters in the 2018 draft class, leading him to be selected by the New York Mets with the sixth overall pick. He was assigned to the team’s Gulf Coast League team but was soon promoted to the more challenging Appalachian League.
It didn’t take long for Kelenic to hit the top 100 prospect rankings. Baseball America ranked him 68th entering the 2019 season while MLB.com ranked him 56th and Baseball Prospectus ranked him 63rd.
Over the next two years, Kelenic’s stock continued to rise, moving to 11th and then 4th by Baseball America and MLB.com by 2021 and 7th and 6th by Baseball Prospectus.
Please, blog, may I have some more?