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By Maria Torres May 4, 2021 18 When he steps into the batter’s box in a Triple-A game Tuesday evening, Carter Kieboom won’t be thinking about how poorly spring training went. Or how he might put himself in danger of losing playing time if he fails to square up a baseball for a hit in his season debut.He will be thinking about little else except the plate appearance he is working on. And that’s what the Nationals wanted for Kieboom, their former top prospect who was overmatched in his first two samplings of major-league action, when they decided in late March he needed to begin the season in the minor leagues.Kieboom, 23, has been away from the major-league team for the better part of five weeks, save for a five-day stint in which he took a spot on the active roster while the Nationals managed a season-opening COVID-19 outbreak. Working out of the spotlight benefitted him, according to those who have watched him in action.After a few weeks at the Nationals alternate training site in Fredericksburg, Va., Kieboom finally got to the point where he felt confident enough in his swing that he didn’t feel like he was grinding through every marathon hitting session with coach Brian Daubach. His hands loosened up. His arms moved more freely. The end result? Improved bat speed and the ability to barrel the baseball more often than he was able in the Grapefruit League, where he was 6-for-45 (.133) with 17 strikeouts and four walks.“I could feel it coming,” Kieboom said of his swing during a Monday afternoon videoconference, scheduled for the day before the Triple-A season begins for the Nationals affiliate in Rochester, N.Y. “It was one tick closer every time. The last two to three weeks or so have been completely different for me.”Said Rochester manager Matt LeCroy: “His batting practices look totally different than they did in spring training. … He’s ready to show people that he can play. And I’m excited for that because these kids, they work their butts off every day to be the best they can. He’s worked extremely hard to get to where he’s at right now.”Kieboom’s work ethic never has been called into question. He is diligent, so focused on his craft that the day after he was demoted, he spent three hours in the batting tunnels at the Nationals’ spring training facility. A few times over the past five weeks, LeCroy said coaches had to remind Kieboom not to overwork himself.What has been questioned is whether Kieboom can get back to who he was as recently as 2019, when he wrapped a string of three exceptional minor league seasons by batting .303 with a .902 OPS and 123 wRC+ in his first Triple-A season. And whether he can finally perform well enough to fill the vacancy at third base when Anthony Rendon left in free agency after the 2019 World Series.The Nationals believe he can. And so does Kieboom, whose confidence, LeCroy said, “is at the highest it’s gonna be at.”The past 15 months have been good for Kieboom’s understanding of hitting and of his swing. He has dedicated so much time to watching video and taking his swing down to the studs that the actions finally feel repeatable again. It also helps him to know he will spend the foreseeable future with a steady job at third base.“I’m going to be able to play and I’m going to be able to have my bad days and not have to worry about playing the next day or taking a couple days off,” he said. “I’m gonna get to face everybody — right-handed pitchers, left-handed pitchers. It’s going to be a normal season for me. And that’s what I’m really looking forward to.”
More reports of improved approach/changed mechanicsrenewed mental fortitude.Wake me when he's actually hitting
First two games: - 0-5 4Ks, - 1-4 2B, 0Ks.111 so far.
Wait he K'd four times in one game? Golden Sombrero. I'm too lazy to look at who it was against, but my gut tells me it's going to be an unranked prospect pitcher, a AAAA guy, or some really old dude on a minors deal trying to make it back to the bigs.
.190 .358 .620 so far after an 0-4 day yesterday.
