Jarred Kelenic heads to the IL with a broken foot from water cooler kick

The Seattle Mariners announced this morning that OF Jarred Kelenic has a fractured left foot and has been placed on the 10-day injured list. In response, they have recalled OF Cade Marlowe from Triple-A Tacoma. Marlowe will start tonight’s game, which will be his major league debut.

The move comes at a pivotal time for Seattle, with less than two weeks until the trade deadline and their path to the playoffs becoming increasingly overgrown with brambles. The result may well be a more outright selling lens, as Seattle sidelines one of just two qualified hitters on the club with a wRC+ over 110 (and we have to drop the threshold to 100 PAs to find any others in Mike Ford and Tom Murphy). The injury was suffered after Kelenic struck out in his 9th inning, nine-pitch battle with Minnesota Twins relief ace Jhoan Duran, as Kelenic kicked a water cooler in frustration to apparently disastrous effect.

No surgery is expected to be needed, however rest will take some time.

In his stead steps in Marlowe, our No. 11 Mariners prospect preseason here, and a long-shot big leaguer to say the least, for whom this sort of moment was sadly always likely to be required for him to get a chance. Today he’s a a major leaguer, having clawed his way up after a standout four-year career at the University of West Georgia, earning himself a whopping $5,000 signing bonus as a senior sign in the 20th round (606th overall) of the 2019 draft. From there, as a pro, Marlowe has consistently hit at every opportunity, producing a power-speed combo that would ordinarily induce sizable intrigue. While we have written about him in depth, the core challenge for Marlowe has always been the same: can we trust his numbers and his performance when he is consistently older than his competition?

Marlowe’s speed and power combo is a rarity in college bats taken as late as he was, as seniors no less. While the lefty has had trouble with contact at times, he is a max effort player whose profile is not dissimilar from fellow occasional call-up Taylor Trammell. Marlowe’s frame is more compact, however, and his swing is as well.

The 26-year-old was a contender for a roster spot out of spring training with a hot performance, but injury sidelined him for several weeks and he has required time to shake off the rust. His final line before being called up from Triple-A was .255/.332/.461 in 319 plate appearances with an 86 wRC+ and 93 DRC+.