It looks like Jared Kilink’s long-awaited breakthrough has arrived. The Seattle Mariners quarterback beat the Chicago Cubs (SEA 5, CLE 2) on Wednesday afternoon with a .333/.405/.636 hitting streak and six extra base hits in 10 games. He deep in each of the Cubs’ first two games.
Kelenic was on a three-game home streak on Wednesday and was an absolute tank. He hit it 482 feet into the second deck of the center field stands in the outfield at Wrigley Field. Just look at this:
Wrigley was windy on Wednesday, sure, but you don’t see other players hitting the ball there, do you? Kelenic’s 482-foot homer is the largest by a Mariners player since Statcast released in 2015. It is the second-largest by a player at Wrigley Field in the Statcast era after Willson Contrera’s 491-foot strike in Game 4 of the NLCS 2017.
Kelenic’s home run at the start of the season is the second longest in baseball. Here are the tallest strains of 2023:
- Giancarlo Stanton, Yankees: 485 feet against the Giants
- Jared Kilinick, Sailors: 482 feet against the Cubs
- CJ Crone, Rockies: 479 feet against the Cardinals
- Austin Riley, Braves: 473 feet against the Cardinals
- Ryan Mountcastle, Orioles: 456 feet vs. athletics
Kelenic, acquired in the Edwin Diaz trade to the Mets, entered the season as a career-hitting .168/.251/.338 in 147 big league games from 2021-22. He was demoted to Triple-A several times and kept changing hands, but it seemed very much like a losing case. Another round of mods followed this winter and Kelenic seems to have found something that works.
Just 23 years old, Kelenic was a top 10 prospect in baseball in both 2020 and 2021. Wednesday’s win improved Seattle’s record to 5-8 early on.
