Jarred Kelenic finally will play at Citi Field next month — but with Atlanta, not the Mets
Atlanta leftfielder Jarred Kelenic catches a fly ball to retire Diamondbacks Corbin Carroll in the eighth inning of a game Saturday in Atlanta. Credit: AP/John Bazemore
ATLANTA — Next month, Jarred Kelenic will fulfill his draft-day dream: playing at Citi Field.
It won’t come the way he imagined when the Mets selected him sixth overall in 2018. Heck, it won’t even look the way he thought it would once they traded him months later to the Mariners in the deal that made Mets out of Edwin Diaz and Robinson Cano.
Instead, Kelenic is due to visit Queens with NL East rival Atlanta when it visits for a May 10-12 series.
He plans to bring his family to town for the special occasion, just as they accompanied him for his first trip to New York City, when he signed his first professional contract and realized how much breakfast at a Times Square diner costs.
“The Mets will always have a special place in my heart, because they’re the team that drafted me,” Kelenic, still only 24 years old, said Monday before playing the Mets for the first time in his career. “I’m excited to play against them and see how the rest of the season goes.”
He missed the Mariners’ trips in 2023, when he was hurt, and 2022, when they demoted him to the minors on the first day they played the Mets.
How will fans receive him?
“In New York? Who knows?” he said with a laugh. “They may hate me. They may love me. I don’t know. I never got a chance to really play in front of them, so I haven’t been there yet. We’ll see. I’m going to try to go out and play my game and have fun.”
Playing his game and having fun has been easier in the early going with his new club, Kelenic said. In a loaded lineup, he played leftfield and batted ninth in the series opener, a slot he likes because it means hitting in front of Ronald Acuna Jr. If he can get on base in front of the NL MVP, he automatically is in scoring position, he said.
His solid start to the season included a .579 average (11-for-19) and .737 slugging percentage in eight games.
Overall, the switch from Seattle to Atlanta has been the fresh start he expected when he got dealt in December — officially, five years to the day of the first time he got traded.
“They’re a first-class organization and have been awesome,” Kelenic said. “It’s been super- helpful making me comfortable . . . It’s just being unapologetically myself and being comfortable with that. This clubhouse especially, we’re surrounded by some of the best players in the game. It’s a loaded roster up and down. When you’re surrounded by those types of players, it ultimately makes you better. I feel really lucky to be here.”
Old friend alert
After Luis Guillorme spent more than a decade in the Mets’ organization, including parts of six seasons in the majors, they cut the utility infielder in November.
Was he upset?
“You could say so,” Guillorme said. “At the end of the day, I’d been there for so long that it’s weird not being there. Especially getting that call that you’re not coming back. It’s weird.
“For the past 11 years of my life, I’ve known one thing and one thing only. For the past six years, been in the big leagues with the team, same guys around me, same places. So it’s still an adjustment. It’s early on.”
So much so that entering the week, Guillorme hadn’t appeared in any of Atlanta’s eight games. He signed a one-year, $1.1 million contract in January to be the backup for an infield that almost never takes games off.
He said being non-tendered was “one of those things that you can see coming.” The Mets replaced him with Joey Wendle.
“I’ve always thought we were similar guys, the way he plays,” Guillorme said. “At the end of the day, it’s a business.”
Personnel news
The Mets designated reliever Yohan Ramirez for assignment and replaced him with Cole Sulser, needing a fresh multi-inning arm behind Julio Teheran and his limited pitch count Monday.
That means both guys who won bullpen spots in spring training, Ramirez and Michael Tonkin, already have been removed from the 40-man roster.
Celebrating Aaron’s 715
Atlanta and MLB celebrated the 50th anniversary of Hank Aaron’s 715th home run — when he passed Babe Ruth to become baseball’s all-time leader — on Monday.
Among the festivities: The Hall of Fame brought Aaron’s plaque — a rare move — from the Cooperstown museum to put on display in the Atlanta clubhouse. A pregame ceremony featured Aaron’s widow, Billye Aaron, as well as Dusty Baker and other teammates from the 1974 Atlanta club. The grounds crew cut a “715” into the centerfield grass. During the game, the teams used specially marked bases. The guest list also included Rob Manfred, CC Sabathia and Ryan Howard.
Fun in the sun
Most Mets players and coaches popped out onto the field around 3 p.m. to take in the partial solar eclipse, passing around two pairs of the proper eyewear to catch a glimpse. All seemed to thoroughly enjoy it — and seemed to do a good job of not looking at the sun with their naked eyes.
“I see it!” Francisco Lindor exclaimed.
Brandon Nimmo, who had more fun than the rest, said: “Oh, wow, that’s crazy.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
