Dipoto on Kelenic: Mariners ‘couldn’t be more optimistic’ about changes

This spring coaching is one more the place former high Mariners prospect Jarred Kelenic is within the highlight.

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In 2020 and 2021, it was all about when Kelenic would make his MLB debut. Final yr, it was if Kelenic might construct off a powerful closing month of the 2021 season to cap off an in any other case rocky rookie marketing campaign.

Now, Kelenic heads into 2023 with a brand new swing and in a unique state of affairs the place he’s prone to platoon in left subject with veteran outfielder AJ Pollock after he largely struggled in MLB motion in 2022.

Kelenic has actually turned heads up to now, blasting three residence runs in 11 spring coaching at-bats, together with going back-to-back with Julio Rodríguez on Wednesday in opposition to the Chicago Cubs.

Watch: Mariners’ Julio Rodríguez, Jarred Kelenic hit back-to-back HRs

Whereas Mariners followers could also be cautiously optimistic that Kelenic will lastly set up himself on the massive league stage this season, M’s president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto took that confidence stage a step additional throughout his weekly interview with Brock and Salk on Seattle Sports activities.

“Couldn’t be any extra optimistic concerning the adjustments that he’s made,” he mentioned throughout The Jerry Dipoto Present, which airs dwell each Thursday at 8:30 a.m. “And a few of this isn’t simply the outcomes that he’s reaching within the recreation, it’s not simply how good he’s appeared on the fields in apply from the second we received right here. It’s what we all know of his offseason and the issues that he’s completed to concentrate on what we’re seeing, which is a few stage of swing change, some stage of method change, some stage of simply adapting to main league pitching. It’s simply taking him a short time longer than it takes others.”

Brock Huard requested Dipoto if the swing change was to change into shorter or extra direct to the baseball, so Dipoto broke down Kelenic’s swing.

“He’s at all times had a fairly brief or direct swing. Jarred’s swing, when you had been to have a look at it from the second we acquired him, it’s a fairly flat swing, which isn’t unusual with good hitters who use the sphere to hit,” he mentioned. “By means of the years, you’d outline flat swings as when you checked out batting champs or the blokes which can be on the high of the batting common leaders, it’s quite common.”

Kelenic’s swing has “a little bit extra tilt” and is “shorter on the entrance finish,” Dipoto mentioned.

“On the entrance finish, there’s a little bit extra uptick as he comes by means of the zone, after which he’s shorter on the extension on the bottom, which I believe provides him extra barrel management by means of the strike zone,” he mentioned. “I’ll say this: I don’t suppose he’s hit a ball beneath 100 mph because the because the spring started. He’s roasting the league. It’s 105 to 113 mph exit velocity nearly each time he swings the bat, which is fairly good.”

Along with struggles on the sphere, rather a lot has been manufactured from Kelenic’s maturity all through the years.

As a prospect and early on in his MLB profession, Kelenic was seen at occasions as brash, and Mike Salk mentioned some probably noticed him as a “meathead” for his depth and quotes like “odor ya later” after hitting a house run.

Dipoto mentioned Kelenic’s maturation over the previous couple of years.

“The concept he was ever a meathead might be an assumption. He’s truly very good, he’s very ready, he’s an intense participant on the sphere and in the way in which he works off of the sphere,” Dipoto mentioned. “The truth that he was brash, significantly when he first arrived right here, that’s the place you possibly can learn a little bit of that into.”

From then to now, Kelenic has grown tremendously, Dipoto mentioned.

“In the event you observe him round this spring, there’s a particular maturation that has occurred over the course (of time), and I’d even return to midsummer of final yr,” he mentioned. “From midsummer final yr to the place we sit at this time, he has matured a lot. You’re by no means going to search out anybody who was extra intent with their work habits, who got here to the ballpark with a plan, who had objectives to what he needed to attain. Now he’s mixed that with he’s grown up fairly a bit. I believe he’s realized higher tips on how to take care of the ups and downs. Baseball, it’s an extended season, and when you get too down with the downs, it’s very arduous to get better. So he’s doing a terrific job.”

Take heed to the total interview with Dipoto at this hyperlink or within the participant under.

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