The Rangers have released outfielder Jarred Kelenic, DLLS Sports’ Jeff Wilson reports. Kelenic has a .425 OPS (one hit and two walks) over 10 plate appearances and seven games with Texas this season, and he has spent most of July at Triple-A Round Rock.
The outfielder signed a minor league deal with the White Sox in the offseason that led to 19 games and 59 PA (and a .626 OPS) before Chicago designated Kelenic for assignment in late May and he chose free agency over an outright assignment. Texas inked Kelenic to the first of what ended up being two minor league contracts, as he was selected to the 26-man roster in mid-June and made his seven appearances before being DFA’ed again, with Kelenic once more opting for free agency. He quickly re-signed with the Rangers on another minors deal, but will now again hit the open market after this release.
Kelenic has hit .213/.304/.295 over his 69 total PA with Chicago and Texas this year, with a vastly more impressive .298/.403/.571 slash line in 227 PA at the Triple-A level. These numbers could be considered a bounce-back since Kelenic struggled with the Braves’ Triple-A team in 2025, but his continued lack of big league success won’t do much to shed the “Quad-A” label that has started to hang over Kelenic’s career.
Between his Triple-A numbers, age (he just turned 27 on July 16), ability to play all three outfield positions, past top-prospect status, Kelenic is likely to get another look somewhere from a team taking a flier on him as a late bloomer. The somewhat sudden nature of his release could also hint that Kelenic might have a deal lined up with a team overseas. Kelenic might prefer a guaranteed contract in a foreign league over a lack of stability in the minors — he is out of minor league options, so he’d likely face more turns on the DFA/outright cycle even if he did get another chance on a MLB roster.
