According to The Seattle Times Mariners beat writer Ryan Divish, Seattle’s top prospect Jarred Kelenic is going to take live batting practice today (3/16) and if everything goes as planned, he will be back tomorrow and will play in the Mariners games against the Los Angeles Angels.
Per MLb source ... Jarred Kelenic is supposed to take live BP today and should be playing in tomorrow’s Cactus League game if everything goes as planned.
— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) March 16, 2021
Kelenic has been out since he tweaked something in his knee running out a ground ball single to the White Sox’ Tim Anderson on March 5th which is eleven days ago. The MRI that he then took revealed a Grade 2 strain of the adductor muscle in his knee, and at the time we were told that it was a three to six-week recovery.
Here's the play Kelenic hurt his knee on... He tweaked it while getting on the jets down the first-base line after initially breaking from the box slow, thinking it was an easy infield out: pic.twitter.com/PTHqLnNEYU
— Daniel Kramer (@DKramer_) March 6, 2021
However, it has been just eleven days and according to Divish’s source, Kelenic would be making a return to live in-game action after just 12 days, less than a two-week recovery. As Divish said in his tweet, this all hinges on Kelenic’s reported live batting practice that he will take today, where I am sure he will be micromanaged on every swing to see if anything is wrong.
Is it the right decision for the Mariners to bring Jarred Kelenic back into action so soon?
Personally, I don’t really get the decision if Divish’s source is right. Why chance it with the number four prospect in baseball who is clearly MLB ready and has not been able to play in a non-exhibition game in over a year? The Mariners still have 13 games left this spring so I don’t see a reason to rush Kelenic’s return when he could still get a handful of games in before a potential Opening Day MLB debut.
The Mariners begin a string of five consecutive night and evening games starting this evening at 6:05 PST against the Kansas City Royals in Surprise, AZ. Tomorrow’s game against the Angels will be at 6:40 PST and will be broadcasted live on Root Sports Northwest. So if Kelenic is to return to the lineup tomorrow you will be able to watch live on local TV.