The Guardians announced Tuesday that they’ve signed former top prospect Carter Kieboom to a minor league contract. The ACES client will be in major league camp as a non-roster invitee this spring.
Now 28 years old, Kieboom was a first-round pick by the Nationals back in 2016 and has previously ranked among the game’s top 100 prospects. He never made good on that billing in parts of four seasons with Washington, however, slashing just .199/.297/.301 in 508 major league plate appearances. He spent the 2025 season with the Angels after signing as a minor league free agent. Kieboom batted .319/.368/.449 in an extremely hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League setting and went 2-for-8 with a pair of singles in three games with the major league club. The Angels outrighted him following the season.
Kieboom has played third base and shortstop extensively in pro ball, logging more than 2100 innings at each position. He’s also played nearly 600 innings at second base. At the height of his prospect status, Kieboom was regarded as a safe bet to hit thanks to good pitch recognition, strong plate discipline and a quality all-fields approach at the plate. That hasn’t played out in the majors, but he’s a career .288/.380/.439 hitter in 1597 plate appearances at the Triple-A level.
Cleveland is set at third base with Jose Ramirez and has one of the top prospects in baseball, 2024 No. 1 overall pick Travis Bazzana, likely to make his debut at second base this coming season. Kieboom is presumably viewed as a bench/depth option with a tinge of upside remaining who could compete for a role in which he backs up multiple positions. If he doesn’t make the club, he’ll head to Triple-A Columbus as a depth piece.
Guy was supposed to be legit. Unfortunately I forgot about him. He probably forgot about me too, what a jerk. A bounce back would be cool. Best of luck!
Kieboom was a fun game. You had to catch those bombs in little buckets and,,,
,,,what’s that? Ohhhhhhhh. Never mind.
The Guardians finally found a position player who is worse than what they have.
Kieboom is the second half of a thrilling double play that started with Fairchild. Strategy: sign position players who are so bad they make your in-house options look stellar. CLE strikes again in bold 4D chess move!
Think they may have misunderstood when they believed the needed bats that could go Kaboom
It’s a classic mix up only Cleveland makes
New era in Cleveland…
Sooooo they said they need outfield help… Best way to address it is to sign an infielder…
“Where’s the Kieboom? There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering Kieboom!”
— Marvin the Martian
And we were worried we weren’t well covered in the middle infield! Solved!
This team dumpster dives agian
Relax gents it is a minor league contract for depth……
Exactly this. The G’s think there will be some infielders traveling I-71 a few times this season, so they want a few souls who hang out in Columbus so they can field a team.