JUST NOW:Jarred Kelenic excited chance the Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves jumped through a lot of hoops in order to bring in former No. 6 overall pick Jarred Kelenic into the organization. In the initial deal with the Seattle Mariners, Atlanta agreed to take on Marco Gonzales and Evan White and their salaries. Both Gonzales and White have since moved on in subsequent deals in order to offload some of the money that was owed to each.

However steep the price tag from a financial standpoint, the Braves thought that it was a worthy investment to take a chance on a former top prospect in Kelenic, who hasn’t realized his potential during his short major league career. Kelenic is still just 24 and will figure into Atlanta’s left field picture next season. Kelenic spoke with the media Wednesday morning via a Zoom call and said that he was fired up when he learned the news that he was headed to Atlanta

“I was actually watching the Packers game with a bunch of buddies of mine at my house here and I got a phone call and from our GM with the Mariners. He just informed me that I was going to be going to Atlanta,” Kelenic said. “Once I heard that, I was fired up because I knew I was going to go to a really good organization that’s had a winning history the last however many years. “It’s no question that they were one of the best teams in baseball all last year and years prior. I am really looking forward to just being a part of that and learning from those guys and kind of just having a fresh new start with a new organization.”