This story was excerpted from Mark Bowman’s Braves Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ATLANTA -- Given there’s reason to believe Jarred Kelenic has done too much thinking, it was refreshing to hear him say he’s trying not to think about the early results he has realized since altering his swing mechanics at the start of Spring Training.

“I’m trying to not put too many thoughts in my head,” Kelenic said. “If I’m thinking about my hands, it’s distracting me from what I’m trying to do. My job is to try to get on base and try to hit the ball hard. That’s what I try to remind myself before I go to the plate. That's my job and that's what I need to be thinking about.

“I can't be thinking about my hands, my rhythm, what I look like, what people are thinking that I look like. I’m just trying to focus on doing my job, and I’m not making it any more than that or any less than that. That’s really helped me, because during Spring Training, I was thinking about those things.”

Kelenic is an immensely talented player whose great physical skills have sometimes been adversely affected by his tendency to think or worry too much. The Mariners tried to help him for a few years and then opted to trade him to the Braves this past winter.

A little more than a month into his Atlanta tenure, Kelenic is far from a finished product. But he has spent the past week displaying the tremendous potential he has both offensively and defensively. The 24-year-old outfielder made a diving catch during his return to Seattle last week and then showed off his strong arm with a couple of throws at Dodger Stadium.

After hitting his first homer of the season in Tuesday’s 4-2 win over the Red Sox, Kelenic created another defensive gem in Wednesday’s 5-0 win. He went to the left-field wall, leaped and snagged Garrett Cooper’s would-be homer in the sixth. It wasn’t initially clear the ball was in his glove.

“I didn’t think I had it,” Kelenic said. “I just jumped. And once I hit the ground, I looked in my glove, saw the ball and I was like, ‘All right!’”

The catch enabled Chris Sale to construct a line that included both six scoreless innings and a season-high 10 strikeouts.

“Kelenic, he deked me. At first, he kind of went like this, like ‘Dang it, I missed it,’” Sale said, putting his head down for effect. “That was an incredible play. Just unbelievable.”

Manager Brian Snitker has been happy with what he has seen from Kelenic, whose two-run shot on Tuesday was his first home run in a span of 232 at-bats going all the way back to June 9, when he took Shohei Ohtani deep.

Kelenic entered Tuesday having hit .260 with a .632 OPS through his first 79 plate appearances of the season.

“You can see it through the progress and with the adjustments he’s made,” Snitker said. “The kid is working for sure. He’s so talented and the upside is so big. You want to hang with him as long as you can.”

Kelenic has erased any concerns that might have existed when the Braves signed Adam Duvall with a couple weeks left in Spring Training to platoon in left field. In fact, Kelenic pointed out the benefits of this left-field partnership without even being asked before Wednesday’s game.

“With Duvall doing the platoon thing, it has allowed me to separate my at-bats a little more, which has been really beneficial because I have a little more time to make adjustments,” Kelenic said. “I’m looking at it as a positive. Duvall has been so helpful to me. He’s been around the game quite a bit. I’m thankful for all he has done to help me.”