Story on Kelenic

[Bil522]

For those who don't get the Athletic here is a piece from the Mariner beat writer Corey Brock about Kelenic

https://theathletic.com/1061044/2019/07 ... l-in-love/

When the Mariners asked Jarred Kelenic to hop on a flight from Milwaukee for a workout 72 hours ahead of baseball’s amateur draft in June 2018, they weren’t sure if he’d fall to them when they picked at No. 14 overall. Even as the club honed in on eventual top pick Logan Gilbert, a right-handed strikeout artist from Stetson University, the Mariners wanted to take a look at the 18-year-old high-school outfielder whose stock was rising fast.

When Kelenic flew home less than a day after arriving in Seattle, they were certain: There was no way in hell they were getting him.

Kelenic met with the team for just a few hours, but what general manager Jerry Dipoto, manager Scott Servais and 20 or so scouts in town for the draft saw that day created a buzz throughout the organization — and still resonates with those who witnessed it. Ask anyone about the legendary round of batting practice when he peppered the windows of the Hit It Here Café and you’ll get a wistful smile in return. They still can’t believe their eyes.

“His workout was as spectacular as a player could ever hope for,” Dipoto said. “We were very impressed with his physical gifts, his intensity and his maturity.”

The impression he made on the organization that day explains why Kelenic, selected by the New York Mets with the No. 6 overall pick, eventually found his way to Seattle. Six months after realizing they had no shot at him, the Mariners finally got their man. And all because of that workout in June.

The day the Mariners fell in love with Jarred Kelenic.

It almost never happened.

Scott Hunter, the team’s director of amateur scouting, reached out to Kelenic’s agent Brodie Scoffield to hastily arrange for a visit close to the draft. Hunter told Scoffield that Seattle had a “high level of interest” in Kelenic, that he was the club’s “primary bat that we were focused on.” Kelenic, who grew up just outside of Milwaukee in Waukesha, made his way to the airport for Friday evening flight to Seattle.

The flight was delayed, and it was late at night by the time Kelenic finally arrived, but the person picking him up from the airport — an advisor for his agency, Tidal Sports Group — was hungry, so the two stopped to eat at The Cheesecake Factory.

That was a bad idea.

“One bite of my food and I felt sick,” Kelenic said. “I don’t think my body was used to eating that late.”

Things only got worse when Kelenic settled into his hotel room, mere hours before he was to head to Safeco Field to meet with team officials. He “got super sick,” but fortunately “slept like a baby after that.” By the next morning, he was feeling a little better. He got up and made his way to the ballpark, where his spirits lifted further.

“I remember walking into the stadium and falling in love with it right away,” he said.

Kelenic had a quick breakfast with Hunter, then raced off to meet with Seattle’s high-performance group. After that, he stopped in Servais’ office, where the two Wisconsinites — Servais is from La Crosse, three hours west of Waukesha — spent about 20 minutes talking, beginning the conversation with a subject close to every cheesehead’s heart: Packers football.

“I think Jerry thought there would be an easy connection,” Servais said. “So I sat down with him, to get a feel for the kid and his personality. It started with Packers and went from there.”

Dipoto’s hunch was correct. The pair hit it off.

“I really felt like we clicked right then and there,” Kelenic said.

“It was a good feeling walking out of the room,” said Servais. “Sometimes you meet with guys and it’s like, ‘eh.’ The vibe just isn’t there for whatever reason. But that wasn’t the case with Jarred.”

Kelenic met with the Mariners medical team before heading out to the field. There, he stood off to the side of the batting cage, getting ready to hit. Before stepping in, he met with Dustin Lind, Seattle’s director of hitting development and strategies. The Mariners wanted to look at Kelenic from every angle possible, taking readings from the wearable K-Vest, which gathers real-time biomechanics information; Blast Motion, a sensor that gathers data on the bat’s path to the ball; and Rapsodo, which calculates the trajectory of hit balls.

“We were tracking everything going on with the bat, the body and the ball,” Lind said. “He had really, really good rotational acceleration and had a really good plane with his bat. It was consistent hard-hit balls with really good trajectory. His bat moved in ways consistent with high-performing hitters.”

Servais, who relied more on the eye test, was blown away.

“He’s hitting the ball the other way, he’s hitting it on a line and then they are starting to go off the wall,” Servais said. “And he then starts hitting them to the pull side … and hit a few off the Hit it Here Café. And I’m like, ‘Whoa.’ After about eight or nine swings, I stepped back and thought, ‘This kid has a chance to be pretty good.’ I made the comment that if there was a better high school hitter in the country … I would like to see him.”

Kelenic kept hitting, the left-hander driving balls to center and right field. The ones hit off the windows were noteworthy enough, but what he did next raised more than a few eyebrows.

“For me, the most impressive thing was seeing him hit balls out of our ballpark to the opposite field — and him doing that as an 18-year-old,” Dipoto said. There are major league All-Stars who will have a difficult time with that in BP or even in games.

“It was one swing after the next. He knew how to pace himself and it was clear there was a level of polish there.”

The data Lind collected during the workout backed up what the Dipoto, Servais and others were seeing: This kid was the real deal.

“The ball coming off his bat, it was true ball flight; it didn’t slice, hook or spin,” Lind said. “It wasn’t a fluke thing, and it wasn’t an outlier. The underlying data proved he could be consistent with that kind of performance. It was really, really impressive.”

Kelenic was at the ballpark for three hours, putting on a show before driving to the airport and heading back to Milwaukee to await the draft. “I remember I walking out of there thinking Seattle would be a great team to be a part of,” he said.

The feeling was mutual. Hunter had seen all he needed to see.

“I said, ‘I’m good … let’s take him,’” Hunter said. “Probably the single most impressive BP I have ever seen by an amateur player.”

Dipoto and Co. immediately went back to the draft room and kicked around scenarios where Kelenic might fall to them at No. 14, but as the draft rapidly approached, the Mariners admitted defeat.

“It became pretty clear … he wasn’t going to get past the Mets,” Dipoto said. “It was a neat experience having him come out, though.”


(Brad Penner / USA Today)
In November, with Seattle well into its teardown plans after having already dealt ace James Paxton and backstop Mike Zunino, Dipoto started talks with the Mets about star second baseman Robinson Canó. As the GM updated the manager on the discussions, Servais offered up an idea.

“I wondered if there was any way we could get Kelenic back,” he said. “Jerry was like, ‘I don’t know, but I know it is going to cost a lot more than just Robbie.’”

On Dec. 4, after throwing in All-Star closer Edwin Díaz into the trade, the teams completed the deal: The Mets got Canó, Díaz and $20 million to help offset the remaining money on Canó’s contract. The Mariners got outfielder Jay Bruce, reliever Anthony Swarzak and three minor-league prospects: pitchers Justin Dunn, Gerson Bautista and, of course, Kelenic.

It took six months, millions of dollars and trading away their best asset in Díaz, but Seattle finally got its guy.

Today, the Mariners are somehow more excited about Kelenic than they were that day in June. The soon-to-be 20-year-old is hitting a combined .290/.367/.550 with 14 homers and 11 stolen bases between Class-A West Virginia and High-A Modesto, where he’s one of the youngest players in the league. After enduring a recent 5-for-49 slump, his bat woke up in a big way Tuesday when he went 3-for-3 with a double and a home run in a win over San Jose.

On Sunday, Kelenic, Dunn and first baseman Evan White (both with Double-A Arkansas) will take part in the Futures Game in Cleveland two days before the All-Star Game. Seattle hopes all three players are part of its core moving forward, with Kelenic leading the way. Time will tell what he becomes, but it’s safe to say the Mariners are still in the honeymoon phase of this relationship.

“He is,” Servais said, “a special player.”

[rockycola]

Special, INDEED! Thanks for posting, 434.

[Sexymarinersfan]

I like my subscription with the Athletic. But I think I'm gonna pull the plug and give the Times another shot.