The Angels announced Tuesday that they’ve selected the contract of infielder Carter Kieboom and placed shortstop Zach Neto on the 10-day injured list due to a left hand strain. The Halos had an open 40-man roster spot after previously outrighting utilityman Scott Kingery.
Kieboom, 28, hasn’t appeared in the majors since 2023. The former top-100 prospect was once viewed as a potential long-term contributor with the Nationals but never found his footing in the big leagues. He’s a career .199/.297/.301 hitter in 508 plate appearances, all of which came with the Nationals, who selected him with the No. 28 overall pick back in 2016.
The 2025 season is Kieboom’s first away from the Nats. He’s had a fine year in Triple-A Salt Lake, slashing .319/.368/.449 with nine homers and 11 steals in 402 trips to the plate. It’s an impressive-looking stat line, though after weighting for home park and league run-scoring environment, Kieboom’s rate stats are about two percent better than league average in the overwhelmingly hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League (by measure of wRC+).
Neto, 24, returns to the injured list for the second time this season. The 2023 first-rounder missed the first few weeks of the year recovering from 2024 shoulder surgery but has largely matched his breakout 2024 form when healthy. In 128 games and 554 plate appearances, Neto has slashed .257.319/.474 with 26 homers and stolen bases apiece. He hit .249/.318/.443 with 23 homers and 30 steals in 155 games/603 plate appearances last season.
The Angels haven’t specified how long Neto will need to recover, although given how close we are to the end of the season, it’s obviously possible that he could miss the remainder of the year. With Neto sidelined, the Angels’ options at shortstop include Denzer Guzman and Oswald Peraza. Veteran utilityman Chris Taylor has plenty of career innings at shortstop under his belt as well, though he hasn’t played there at all since the 2023 season.
What is perry doing kieboom has -1 range.
No one said Kieboom is playing shortstop.
@mlb. It was sarcasm at halo11fan expense. Yes its probably a guy that cant hit like kingery. Still wont suggest moving (neto) the only piece to 2nd base when they dont have any replacements for (ss).
So they cut Kingery and add essentially the same guy in Kieboom. What a wretched, pathetic franchise.
how and why is it wretched?
Why not see what Kieboom can do in a short stretch? They already know what Kingery is capable of. Which unfortunately is not a whole lot.
I would say your take is what is pathetic.