The Nationals announced that third baseman Carter Kieboom has cleared outright waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Rochester. There had not been any previous indication that he had been removed from the 40-man roster, so the club’s count will drop to 39.
Kieboom, now 26, was the club’s first round draft pick in 2016. He was selected 28th overall that year and hit well enough in the minors that he was considered a top 100 prospect in the years to come. Baseball America ranked him #41 in the majors in 2019 and then #15 in 2020.
Unfortunately, his progress has been held back since then. He received 371 plate appearances over 2020 and 2021 but hit just .206/.315/.285 in that time. He then required Tommy John surgery early in 2022, wiping out that entire season for him.
He returned last year but health continued to play a role. He started the season on the injured list due to a shoulder impingement and was optioned to the minors when activated in May. He then experienced some lat soreness in the minors. He eventually played 27 major league games and 44 minor league contests for the year, hitting .207/.266/.368 in the bigs and .256/.362/.411 on the farm.
Kieboom has continued to hit in the minors, with a Triple-A slash of .281/.392/.457 over three different seasons. But he’s now coming off two injury-marred seasons and is out of options. The Nats seemingly didn’t have much intention of giving him a run of playing time this year, as they signed Nick Senzel to be their everyday third baseman. It seems none of the other 29 clubs had much appetite to give Kieboom a shot either, as they all passed on the chance to grab him off waivers.
He will now stick with the Nationals but without taking up a spot on the 40-man roster. Players with three years of service time can reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency but Kieboom is just under that threshold, currently at two years and 168 days. Since a year rolls over at 172 days, he is just four days shy of the three-year marker.
If he stays healthy and productive this year, he could earn his way back into the plans in Washington. Senzel is only under club control through 2025 and could find himself on the trade block this summer if he’s playing well, as the Nationals aren’t likely to be in contention this year.
Wow, ignominious end to a top prospect’s career in DC.
Their choice to replace him is ironic, same player but older and more proven to be what he is
I’ve been thinking the same thing.
Senzel = Kieboom + a couple years
They could still have Anthony Rendon lol.
Fun fact, the Nationals are paying already paying Strasburg to never pitch again. They literally decided against Rendon and somehow made a worse deal lol
Let’s hear it for the HOUSE! Brady will be the GOAT!
No question it’s a tale of two busts. Even if either or both have a breakout season it’s only a matter of time before that gets derailed by yet another injury.
He was outrighted he’s still in the organization
Its also possible that Senzel will not have a good season, and a good start at AAA could make him next man up.
Keibust more like it. And more on the way. Wood has bust wrote all over him
Put down the crack pipe before it’s too late.
173 strikeouts in high a/aa won’t translate well to major league level.
Sure he can improve on a 40% K rate. But will he ? Thats a long way from league average or even passable. He shouldn’t even be a ranked prospect with that k rate tbh.
And spring ball is spring ball. No one will remember come June. But I’ll check it out…
I get that he hasn’t been great but it’s very surprising a team like the A’s wouldn’t try and grab him, given his status as a former top prospect.
He hasnt been productive anywhere in like 4 years..
Not for the 40 spot. I bet any team would take him if he didn’t require a roster spot
Its the lack of options that weighs more than his pedigree.
El Busto
Get JD.
Bold, I like it.
Kiebust
Trey Lipscomb to the 40….?
not everyone can converts their average minor league numbers to the majors…..go back to working at Firestone.
Hardly even a quad a player
Who would have thought his brother was the better of the two.
Then again, who would have thought anyone would pay homage to Ray King’s illustrious thighs?
He was great on the late late show.
Kieboom made his debut at age 21.
Luis Garcia as age 20.
Abrams was 21.
Robles was 20.
Given that a players prime 6 years of control might be 23-28, maybe Rizzo might want to consider delaying their debuts by 2-3 years.
GL trying to get high draft picks to sign with you if your org has a reputation for delaying promotions.
That’s understandable that prospects would prefer to get promoted right out of HS if they could, but even age 22 is early. 20 & 21 is bad for both the player and the team.
Early promotion is probably especially attractive to international players, who commonly sign at age 16 or 17 and often have already committed to specific teams well before it’s official.
Try getting them to sign with you when you have a history of destroying good players. Bringing players up too soon can be just as influential.
Harper and Soto were each 19 and did fantastically.
A case can be made that Garcia and Keiboom were originally pressed into service prematurely out of need. Not sure that was the case with either Abrams or Robles though. Robles didn’t reach his expected level but did OK at first. Abrams started progressing pretty well after he was switched to lead off last year.
Abrams made his big league debut with the Padres. Mike Rizzo had nothing to do with that.
Abrams had already debuted with the Padres but was back in their minor leagues when the Nats obtained him. He did a short stint in the minors with the Nats, too, before he was brought up.
So yes Rizzo had a lot to do with when he was called up with the Nats and for his career in MLB in general.
Kaboom!!
Where’s the Kieboom? There’s supposed to be an earth shattering Kieboom!
Oh delays, delays!
Needs a change of scenery. This is one that can still have a great career even though he is 26
At least he got a 2 million dollar signing bonus to not get the job done
Still a great investment in himself.
He could play banana ball for a few more years and still retire at 60 if he’s content to live a modest life.
The Nationals still got more production from him than the Angels have from Rendon.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Best comment of the thread and possibly of the day.
Surprised that no one commented on his being four days short of the service time needed to be a free agent. When no one picked him off of waivers, Nationals were guaranteed to retain him and to benefit if he suddenly discovers himself at AAA ball.
I wonder if the nats player development hurt him. Arguably the Nats had about the worst player development of any franchise over the last 15 years.
The only really good home grown players where Strasburg, harper and soto and at least the former two where touted as huge prospects and probably developed themselves mostly.
Maybe you could add turner to the good Group too but he was traded for.
Does this mean Brady House is breaking camp with the big club?
Definitely not. You’ll have for them to build the house
Seems like lately the nationals have really missed on developing their top prospects and most of them have been bust. Doesn’t look good when they had generational type talents like Harper, Soto, Strasburg come up and look so good not all that long ago. So begs the question… were those guys just that good they could overcome the organizational shortfalls in player development or has their ability to identify talent really struggled as of late.