Once-promising outfielder Jarred Kelenic facing grim reality

SAN DIEGO — Outfielder Jarred Kelenic is back where he wants to be: in the major leagues with the White Sox.

He wasn’t in their starting lineup Friday against the Padres at Petco Park, but he wasn’t at Triple-A Charlotte, either.

The Sox and Kelenic, whom the Mets selected with the No. 6 overall pick of the 2018 draft, had high hopes in spring training. But he didn’t make the team.

‘‘I think the message was pretty clear,’’ Kelenic, 26, said before the game. ‘‘Really focus on controlling the strike zone. They were really high on my talent. They knew that as long as I began controlling the strike zone and getting my ‘A’ swing out, good things would happen.’’

The adjustments he made apparently were good enough. Kelenic was called up when the Sox put Everson Pereira on the injured list Wednesday with a strained muscle on the right side of his chest.

It wasn’t as though Kelenic was lighting up the minor leagues. In 26 games, he hit .202 with six home runs, 18 RBI, 16 runs scored and seven stolen bases.

But the bulk of those numbers came in his last 10 games, when he hit .333 (12-for-36) with five homers, 12 RBI and 10 runs scored.

Kelenic pinch-hit in the ninth inning of the Sox’ 3-2, 10-inning victory Wednesday against the Angels at Rate Field and struck out swinging. He batted .179 in spring training before the Sox demoted him. They’re hoping for the best now.

‘‘It was a tough decision to send him down,’’ manager Will Venable said about Kelenic, who was in camp as non-roster invitee. ‘‘He hadn’t really tapped into his best swing. He did some good things defensively. He clicked on a couple of balls at the plate in camp. But he wasn’t the best version of himself.

‘‘He went down, struggled a little bit early but did some quality work to get himself back on track to be the best version of himself. And that’s what we expect to get out of him now.’’

Despite being drafted by the Mets, Kelenic never played for them. He was traded to the Mariners on Dec. 3, 2018, in the deal that sent second baseman Robinson Cano and closer Edwin Diaz to the Mets.

Things, however, didn’t develop well for Kelenic. The Mariners were excited to get him, but he batted a combined .168 with 167 strikeouts in 147 games in 2021 and 2022.

He had played so poorly that in mid-2023 he fractured his left foot kicking a Gatorade cooler in the home dugout out of frustration. It was then on to the Braves, but it didn’t work out for him with them, either.

The Sox might be his final stand.

‘‘The game is hard,’’ Kelenic told the Sun-Times during spring training. ‘‘The game sucks sometimes, man. It’ll beat you down. But at the end of the day, you’ve just got to stick to your strengths and superpowers. Ride with those and have as much confidence as you can in yourself in a game where you’re set up to fail.’’

If he fails again, the time might be coming for a career change. He was one of the highest-drafted players ever from Wisconsin, despite never playing for Waukesha West High School, and turned down a scholarship offer to play college ball at Louisville after he was drafted by the Mets.

It has been a downhill slog ever since, and it was just another blow when the Sox told Kelenic this spring that he hadn’t made the team. It was Charlotte or bust.

‘‘I think something like that would be disappointing for anybody,’’ he said Friday. ‘‘But it’s baseball. It’s the industry. The only option to make the team was to go down and focus on my own game, focus on what makes me great.’’