Mariners’ Jarred Kelenic goes on IL after kicking water cooler and fracturing foot
SEATTLE – Jarred Kelenic walked into the Mariners dugout of T-Mobile Park with his head down, and his eyes, already red from tears, fixed on the walking boot on his left foot.
In a season where so much had gone right for him and he was starting to move closer to being the player that he and everyone else believed he could be, the player he worked so hard to move away from reappeared in the final moments of Wednesday’s 6-3 loss to the Twins.
After losing a difficult nine-pitch at-bat with Twins closer Jhoan Duran, who was firing 104-mph fastballs before dropping a 90-mph slider on the outside corner for a called strike three, Kelenic’s anger and frustration of being unable to deliver with runners on first and second and nobody out couldn’t be contained.
Furious at himself and his failure, he kicked a square Gatorade water cooler on the ground in the dugout and felt instant pain in his left foot. Postgame X-rays and a bone scan on Thursday morning revealed a fracture.
He was placed on the 10-day injured list and outfielder Cade Marlowe was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma to start in his place in the series finale against Minnesota.
Kelenic sat down to address the media, but was so overcome with emotion, he had to pause for a few minutes as he tried to hide the tears streaming down his face.
“I just, I just made a mistake,” he said. “I let the emotions get the best of me there. I just feel terrible, especially for the guys. I let the emotions get the best of me and I let them down. I take full responsibility for it. It’s on me. It just can’t happen.”
The Mariners had chastised Kelenic, who turned 24 four days ago, about his temper and his reaction to failure the past few seasons. He was notorious for arguing calls, breaking helmets and bats following failures at the plate and letting them fester for days at a time.
“Nobody feels worse about it than Jarred does,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “I think it’s a learning lesson for him and for all players. Players get frustrated when they’re not getting the results they’re looking for. But you’ve got to be able to control your emotions, it’s part of being a professional. Last night, he let it get the best of him and it affects all of us.”
This offseason, Kelenic began a conscious effort to make changes to his swing and his mental approach at the plate. While he didn’t want to accept failure, he worked to understand that it was part of the game.
But the rigors of the season in which the Mariners have underachieved and his own personal desire to help stop it allowed for recent relapses of rage.
“I came up last night with the game on the line, two guys on against arguably the best closer in baseball and I put together good at-bat and was just grinding,” he said. ‘Unfortunately, I couldn’t come through. Like I said, I made a mistake.”
Kelenic wasn’t certain which bone was fractured and wasn’t certain about a timetable for his return. His absence comes at a time when the Mariners are trying to remain relevant in the wild-card race and inspire the front office to acquire help at the trade deadline.
“That’s the biggest thing is that I love to win and I’m a huge competitor,” he said. “That’s the hardest part is that now like I can’t be out there to help the guys and that’s my fault.”
In 90 games this season, Kelenic has a .252/.320/.439 slash line with 24 doubles, two triples, 11 homers, 45 RBIs, 12 stolen bases, 33 walks and 118 strikeouts. While there have been some ups and downs in terms of consistent production, the Mariners had felt like he was in a better place physically and mentally with his day-to-day success and failure.
“He’s had a nice season to this point,” Servais said. “He’s made a ton of adjustments on the field and you can see it. There’s days where it looks great. There’s other days it has been a struggle, like all young players. The thing that hits him hard is that it not just affects him but it affects the rest of us. He does feel terrible about it. The thing you’ve got to do from this, is you have to learn from these experiences, no matter what point you are at in your career – a young player, middle of your career or end of your career.”
Marlowe, 26, will start Thursday’s game in left field, making his major-league debut. He was batting .255 (72 for 282) with 13 doubles, six triples, 11 home runs, 47 RBI, 25 stolen bases and 32 walks, reaching base at a .332 clip and slugging .461 with a .793 OPS in 63 games with Triple-A Tacoma this season. He has hit safely in 22 of his past 24 games.
Servais said that he will use the left-handed hitting Marlowe and outfielder AJ Pollock in a left-field platoon with Kelenic out.
“He’s very well prepared, very serious dude,” Servais said. “He takes it very seriously. He’s always working and looking for ways to get better. He’s got good speed. He’s a good defender. He can run the bases. We’ll see what the bat brings and see how he can help us.”