The Atlanta Braves won back-to-back games for the first time all season thanks to a victory over the Texas Rangers on Saturday. While Jarred Kelenic did go 1-for-4 in that game, his long hit came with a pretty huge blunder.
Kelenic is hitting just .170 on the season, and Braves fans routinely call for his benching. However, Atlanta's outfield depth will be tested until Ronald Acuña Jr. returns. In the sixth inning of Saturday's game, Kelenic hit what he thought was a home run deep to right field. Rather than running hard out of the box, Kelenic admired his deep fly ball. Unfortunately for him, it did not leave the hard but rather hit the wall. As a result, the Twins quickly returned the ball to the infield and threw Kelenic out at second base.
Jarred Kelenic, my man, you can't pimp a single off the wall and get thrown out at second base when you're hitting .174 pic.twitter.com/MYANCrOaG9
— Lindsay Crosby, big baseball guy (@CrosbyBaseball) April 20, 2025
That, uh, cannot happen! Kelenic is a former top prospect with the Seattle Mariners. While he has shown flashes both in Seattle and now with the Braves, he is not the home run trade pickup Alex Anthopoulos once thought he was. There are far too many mistakes like the one which occurred on Saturday to back up that statement.
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Brian Snitker should have removed Jarred Kelenic from Braves win
To make matters even worse, Brian Snitker kept Kelenic in the game rather than making an example of him. This is the exact sort of unforced error a team like the Braves must avoid. Heck, back in 2019, Snitker was not nearly as patient with Ronald Acuña Jr., who was pulled for a mistake of his own on the basepaths.
“He didn’t run,” Snitker said at the time. “You’ve got to run. It’s not going to be acceptable here. As a teammate, you’re responsible for 24 other guys, and that name on the front is a lot more important than that name on the back of that jersey. You can’t do that. We’re trying to accomplish something special here. Personal things have to be put on the back burner.”
That sounds exactly like Kelenic's poor effort on Saturday. Snitker's actions lit a fire under Acuña Jr. in 2019. Why not try the same technique with Kelenic now, especially when he deserves it. In fact, Acuña respected Snitker's decision at the time.
“It’s one of those things where I [wasn’t] thinking and that’s the reaction I took,” Acuña said. “[Snitker] felt that was the decision he had to make, and I respect that decision.”
If Snitker has lost his fire for the game – and there is no guarantee he comes back following the 2025 season as his contract expires – then he is wasting the Braves and Kelenic's time.