The new Jarred Kelenic

Ruminator

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At long last, JK no longer stands for Just Kidding. It stands for Jarred Kelenic! It's like the Ms just scored big-time with a difference-making FA acquisition, except they didn't have to give up anything to get him.

If Jarred is able to keep this up, this is absolutely huge, because for us fans, whenever he's up to bat, it means we no longer need to cover our eyes and instead use our hands to grip the edge of our seats in anticipation of something good.

Check out the below Tweet. Shout-out to SportsHernia and others who have touched on this also.

 

DJrmb

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Kelenic looks like he's truly turned it around. To me his problems were never about mechanics. Every player goes through adjustments with their mechanics now days and they're almost constantly being adjusted.

To me Kelenic was immature and his biggest problem was his own mind. The AB I saw from him in the bottom of the 10th solidified the change for me, where he didn't chase balls way off the plate. Leclerc threw him one fastball, well off the plate. Everything else was a breaking ball, trying to bait him into swinging off the plate. finally JK popped up when Leclerc missed with a slider back inside. Even though the result wasn't what he wanted he stayed calm and made the correct swing decision through the whole AB. If he continues to do that he will be more successful than not. Kelenic has had some real maturation this time around. Jerry Dipoto said the same thing on the radio, and I think that's what truly has him realizing success at the major league level and what gives me hope he can sustain it.

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Sports Hernia

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THAT. Is Pure Power!
He closed his stance. Was too open when he was up last time.
Eliminated unnecessary movement at the beginning of his swing. He’s quicker to the ball and can hit the outside pitch now.
 

Sports Hernia

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Kelenic looks like he's truly turned it around. To me his problems were never about mechanics. Every player goes through adjustments with their mechanics now days and they're almost constantly being adjusted.

To me Kelenic was immature and his biggest problem was his own mind. The AB I saw from him in the bottom of the 10th solidified the change for me, where he didn't chase balls way off the plate. Leclerc threw him one fastball, well off the plate. Everything else was a breaking ball, trying to bait him into swinging off the plate. finally JK popped up when Leclerc missed with a slider back inside. Even though the result wasn't what he wanted he stayed calm and made the correct swing decision through the whole AB. If he continues to do that he will be more successful than not. Kelenic has had some real maturation this time around. Jerry Dipoto said the same thing on the radio, and I think that's what truly has him realizing success at the major league level and what gives me hope he can sustain it.

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I actually think it was both mental and mechanics. See my last post.
I said before when he was up he was “in his own head”. And he was likely hearing from 10 different people with 10 different ideas on how to fix his situation. He looked lost before. He was a deer in the headlights.

Now he looks like he is starting to live up to his potential, but we have to be aware that since he has been back that it is a very small sample size.
 

sutz

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I think it was mostly head stuff. After all, watching Julio do what many people expected JK to do had to screw with his head a bit. That leads to trying too hard and a vicious cycle of fail, try harder, fail, try harder, etc, etc, etc. Had to learn to relax and enjoy playing the game again.
 

Sports Hernia

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I think it was mostly head stuff. After all, watching Julio do what many people expected JK to do had to screw with his head a bit. That leads to trying too hard and a vicious cycle of fail, try harder, fail, try harder, etc, etc, etc. Had to learn to relax and enjoy playing the game again.
The head has to be right for the rest of the stuff to work.
 

SonicHawk

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I'm not giving Kelenic a pass just yet, but if he continues the way he's been the last 7 games... fewer strikeouts, less chasing of bad pitches, and extending at bats... maybe hope.
 

DJrmb

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I think it was mostly head stuff. After all, watching Julio do what many people expected JK to do had to screw with his head a bit. That leads to trying too hard and a vicious cycle of fail, try harder, fail, try harder, etc, etc, etc. Had to learn to relax and enjoy playing the game again.
Yeah, I completely agree. Not to say that mechanics has nothing to do with it or say anyone else's opinion is wrong, but to me Kelenic was struggling mentally more than anything else. I think Julio's rather immediate success compounded the pressure he was putting on himself too. Whenever he got sent down he would go down and absolutely mash those pitchers, no matter what mechanics he was currently using. I think that was more because he had confidence and knew he could hit those guys (he'd proven it to himself) and he didn't spiral down the path of frustration and toiling like he would do at the slightest sign of struggling in the bigs...
 

Sports Hernia

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I'm not giving Kelenic a pass just yet, but if he continues the way he's been the last 7 games... fewer strikeouts, less chasing of bad pitches, and extending at bats... maybe hope.
Nor should you, or anyone else.

But he’s hitting .296 and has an OPS of 1.1+ since he’s be back up.
So he’s produced in this very short stretch he’s been back. Great time for him and Haniger to get hot, they need to stay hot though.
 

sutz

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Nor should you, or anyone else.

But he’s (JK) hitting .296 and has an OPS of 1.1+ since he’s be back up.
So he’s produced in this very short stretch he’s been back. Great time for him and Haniger to get hot, they need to stay hot though.
Definitely will need all hands on deck. We're basically in playoff mode now. Not that we'd be eliminated, but the seeding matters, too. :)
 

Sports Hernia

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He needs to start hitting again. He’s getting into chase mode on the breaking pitches as they are throwing less fastballs.
 

SoulfishHawk

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He def. gets that way at time. Shoot, even the usually reliable Haniger was doing that for a bit. But with Kelenic, he is MUCH better when he just goes with the pitch. Can't always be in "pull the ball" mode. Clearly he has a ton of talent. And he's 10 times better than Winker in the outfield.
 

SonicHawk

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Yesterday was a bad day for Kelenic. Some bad chases. Hopefully he picks it back up.
 

Hawk-Lock

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I need to see it for more than just a couple weeks. Let’s not forget this guy absolutely destroyed the ball last year in September and then reverted back to a dumpster fire.

I’m hopeful he turned the corner, but he still has a long way to go.
 
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