Juan Soto arrived in 2018 and became a National League Rookie of the Year finalist. Victor Robles became an everyday big-league outfielder in 2019. Next up to the plate: Carter Kieboom?
The 22-year-old infielder is both the Washington Nationals’ highest-rated prospect this winter and the potential solution to replace MVP finalist Anthony Rendon at third base. When the Nationals report to West Palm Beach, Florida, for spring training in one week, Kieboom’s viability at third will be one of the most important developments to watch.
After Rendon signed with the Los Angeles Angels this offseason, the Nationals were unable to sign a marquee free agent like Josh Donaldson to fill the hole. Infielders like Asdrúbal Cabrera and possibly even Howie Kendrick can spend some time at third, but manager Dave Martinez has made it clear Kieboom, whose natural positions are shortstop and second baseman, will get his chance there.
“We need to fill a void at third base, and we think he’s appropriate,” Martinez said on SiriusXM radio last month. “He can do the job.”
Scouts think highly of Kieboom: In January he was ranked the 11th best prospect in the minor leagues by Baseball Prospectus, No. 15 by Baseball America and No. 20 by MLB Pipeline.
Kieboom got his first taste of the majors last spring when shortstop Trea Turner and some other Nationals fielders were injured. He played in 11 games, starting 10 of them at shortstop, and managed five hits with a pair of home runs.
But his performance in the field was another story. Kieboom committed four errors in 40 chances for a fielding percentage of just .900 — and that was at shortstop, the position he’s used to. The biggest question Kieboom must answer in Florida is how he’ll fare defensively at the hot corner.
The Nationals had only two prospects crack Top 100 lists this year: Kieboom and infielder Luis Garcia. Garcia, 19, came in at No. 91 in Baseball America’s rankings and No. 97 with MLB Pipeline.
A middle infielder like Kieboom, Garcia’s shot at the majors might be further away, but he’s proven to be precocious. He was promoted to the Single-A Potomac Nationals in 2018 as an 18-year-old, becoming the youngest player in the league. Then, he spent 2019 with the Double-A Harrisburg Senators and batted .257 with 22 doubles and 30 RBI.
The consensus No. 3 prospect and top-rated pitcher in the Nationals’ system might come as a surprise: 2019 first-round draft pick Jackson Rutledge.
The Nationals drafted pitchers in the first and second rounds in both 2017 and 2018 in an effort to build up some organizational depth there. Yet Rutledge, the newest addition to the system, currently ranks higher than those other pitchers like Wil Crowe, Tim Cate and Mason Denaburg.
At what level Rutledge will play his first full season in the Nationals’ system is still unsettled, but he’s generated some buzz already, with MLB Pipeline calling him a breakout candidate in 2020.
“Taken with the No. 17 overall pick in last year’s Draft, Rutledge, a 6-foot-8 right-hander, has some of the best pure stuff among college pitchers from his class with an explosive mid-90s fastball and a wipeout slider that front his four-pitch mix,” MLB Pipeline’s scouting report says. “Harnessing his stuff to throw more strikes and developing a better changeup will be developmental keys for the 20-year-old in his first full season, though he’s exactly the type of power pitcher the Nats have successfully developed in the past.”
But Rutledge’s arrival in the majors is likely a few years off.
Kieboom, on the other hand, is on the precipice of permanent big-league status this year. The fog should start to lift soon enough — pitchers and catchers report on Feb. 12, with their first workout the following day, and position players arrive on Feb. 17.
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