The Nationals announced on Wednesday that they have opted for ailing third base Carter Kieboom to their alternative training site to open a place on the roster for left-handers Sean Doolittle, which was restored from the injury list.
Although Kieboom has not yet found his groove in the plate in 2020, it is still a surprise to see that Nats has chosen him. The organizational hope was that the 22-year-old, long considered one of MLB’s best overall prospects, could enter the Anthony Rendonempty in size in that lineup. That’s not to say that anyone expected round one of 2016 alone would make up for Rendon’s lost production, but Kieboom has been touted as a potentially more hitter in his own right.
Kieboom’s future may still be bright, but he has yet to find success in more big league auditions. He didn’t get an extra-base accomplishment across 64 tier appearances this year, and beat a combined .169 / .299 / .236 in 107 AP dating back to last year’s debut. Clearly, this is very different from last year’s .303 / .409 / .493 cut in 494 trips to the plate with Triple-A Fresno.
With Kieboom now out of the mix in third base e Starlin castro on the shelf after surgery to repair a fractured wrist, Nats will need to lean more on the trio of veterans from Asdrubal Cabrera, Josh Harrison is Howie Kendrick carry cargo to second and third bases. Kendrick was limited to first base and DH exclusively in 2020, but appeared in 23 games at second base and 15 games at third base during the 2019 regular season. Depending on how the Nats approach Monday’s looming trade deadline, we might see them try to add some internal depth, even if the start of the launch seems like an area of greater interest Stephen Strasburg lost for the year and 60 percent of the rotation fighting for ERA north of 5.00.
