SEATTLE — Five years ago, Jarred Kelenic was a consensus top-10 prospect in Major League Baseball. He was 21 years old, the former No. 6 overall pick in the 2018 draft, and the key return in a trade that sent All-Stars Robinson Canó and Edwin Díaz to the New York Mets. He was tools and twitch and intensity, promise personified.

He was stationed temporarily in Triple-A Tacoma, where slashed .320/.392/.624 in 30 games, before making his MLB debut on May 13, 2021. He and Julio Rodríguez — the team’s No. 2 prospect — were the bigger, brighter future for a stalled franchise.

Or so it seemed.

It’s been a frustrating, and insightful, five years since.

“There’s definitely been difficult times, having that spotlight,” Kelenic said on Chicago Sports Network in February, amid his first spring training with the Chicago White Sox. “But also, I’ve had a lot of lessons that I’ve learned throughout that entire process and the entire journey. I feel like now, where I’m at, it’s probably the most confident I’ve felt going into the season.”

But confidence is fickle, and baseball is cruel. After slashing .179/.273/.359 with two homers and five RBI in 14 Cactus League games, Kelenic did not make the opening-day roster for a franchise that went 60-102 in 2025. Entering Tuesday, he was 1 for 22 in seven games and 25 at-bats for the Charlotte Knights, with 10 strikeouts and the second-worst OPS (.165) in all of Triple-A.

In this game, there are no guarantees. “Can’t-miss prospect” is an oxymoron, a promise whispered with fingers crossed behind your back. Baseball doles out a festering diet of disappointment and failure, even for Hall of Famers. Injuries claim careers. It’s a six-month march up a muddy mountain with continuous switchbacks.

The point here is not to pile on Kelenic, who desperately wanted to succeed in Seattle. The harder he pressed, the faster he fell. But I admire how transparently the 26-year-old has spoken about his struggles, and the profound perspective gained from failure. I also admire, as Kelenic stands even further from the summit than he did five years ago, that the former Mariner faces this mountain and continues to climb.

I hope it’s too soon to call Kelenic’s career a cautionary tale.

But the point is, for all the tools and twitch and intensity, it takes more to succeed — and stick — in MLB. That should make you appreciate the homegrown Mariners who made it even more.

Take Julio, who arrived at age 21, with monumental pressure, and has become one of the best players in baseball. Already a three-time All-Star, he’s compiled a 22.8 bWAR in barely four seasons, while building himself into one of MLB’s best center fielders. He’s done so while absorbing pressure with impressive aplomb, gracefully accepting a searing spotlight.

Of course, Julio haters can highlight his frigid first halves and his penchant for flailing at diving sliders. He is an endlessly talented, and at times infuriatingly flawed, player. But his impact has been enormous, smudges aside.

Take catcher Cal Raleigh, who ascended from overlooked third-round pick to record-breaking MVP runner-up. Or starting pitchers Logan Gilbert and George Kirby, former first-round picks turned top-end rotation mainstays. Or 22-year-old second baseman Cole Young, the 21st overall pick in 2022, who is off to an impressive start after struggling as a rookie in 2025. Or burgeoning ace Bryan Woo, who was nothing of the sort in a rocky college career at Cal Poly.

Consider the quiet persistence of Emerson Hancock, the No. 6 overall pick in 2020, who has reinvented himself after consistent struggles. Hancock bounced between Triple-A Tacoma and T-Mobile Park in 2024 and 2025, struggling to stick in Seattle’s stacked rotation. He produced a combined -0.8 bWAR across those two campaigns, even shifting into the bullpen late last year. But after overhauling his arsenal with a heavy four-seam fastball and a slow sweeper, Hancock has allowed just six hits and one earned run — with 14 strikeouts — in his first two starts.

That’s too small of a sample size to draw conclusions. But the former top draft pick could have crumbled when success didn’t come.

Instead, the Mariners have developed a deep fleet of former draft picks, with another wave — shortstop Colt Emerson, starting pitchers Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan, etc. — on its way.

Five years after Kelenic debuted, Emerson is a consensus top-10 prospect in MLB. He’s 20 years old, the former No. 22 overall pick in the 2023 draft. He’s promise personified, an heir apparent in the Mariners’ middle infield. After signing an eight-year, $95 million deal, his MLB debut could come any day.

The expectations are enormous, and not unique.

The question isn’t whether Emerson will struggle at some point. It’s how he’ll persevere.

“I was in a tough spot for a while,” Kelenic said of how he handled adversity early on. “I never struggled anywhere, where I played. I was always the best guy and it came really natural to me. When adversity hit, you start to grasp for something to help.”

For Emerson, for anyone, adversity will hit.

The Mariners who make it all hit back.

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