i'm skeptical of what value kieboom really has/had
It's less now than it was a year ago because there weren't really concerns about the bat before. But he's still a legitimate prospect. He's 22. If he were a college draftee, he'd be in his first full professional season and - even in normal times - he'd be no higher than AA. As it is, he's hit at every level below MLB and done so at young-for-level ages. There are not many 21-year-olds in AAA, and even fewer of them OPSing .900.
For comparison, in his age 22 season, Trea Turner (a college guy in his first full professional season) came up in August after starting the year at AA and hit .225/.295/.325 in 44 PAs, which is the same range of struggling that Kieboom had this year. They held him in the minors until June the next year and he was good to go once he came up.
This is not the season to expect guys to be able to produce when they're coming back from injuries or stints in the "minors": there's no rehab games or competitive pitching outside of MLB.
Ditto. The guy looked way over his head from the get-go.
Yes, because scouts and GMs never look at anyone's minor league performance in assessing value of prospects.
Lucas Giolito looked freaked up with the Nats in his first year in the majors. How's that working out?