Carter Kieboom takes licks, keeps swinging

WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. — An hour passed, then two, and Carter Kieboom was still in the batting cages — sweating, swinging like a pendulum — while the Washington Nationals took the field Sunday. He was out of the lineup because, for however long it takes to get a rhythm, he is out of the picture. He will begin this season at the club’s alternate site in Fredericksburg, Virginia, facing teammates and minor league pitchers on loop.

But he’ll really be facing himself.

That’s why, on the morning after his demotion, Kieboom stayed in a box from 10 a.m. to 1:20 p.m. Manager Dave Martinez wants him to relax, to breathe, to stop feeling so much pressure. Kieboom, though, says he can solve all of this with a bat in his hands. He is 23 and knows no other way.

“Some people say: ‘I want to get away from it, I want to get away from it,’” Kieboom, a former player for Marietta’s Walton High School, said Sunday afternoon. “But it’s not going anywhere. So I’m going to keep going. I’m going to hit it head-on.”

The pressure has lingered since Anthony Rendon left for the Los Angeles Angels in December 2019. The Nationals gave Kieboom a shot to replace Rendon last summer, and Kieboom struggled. They gave him another shot to stick this spring, and he logged six hits in 45 at-bats. He struck out 17 times. He has a .181 batting average, .309 on-base percentage and .232 slugging percentage in 165 career plate appearances. And he took a step back this month.

“It was a tough spring for him,” Martinez said Sunday. “I don’t want to put any limitations on Carter. If we kept him, if we decided we’ll just play him against left-handed pitching, I don’t think that would’ve been the right thing to do. We want him to play every day.”

“I feel it, it’s there and I’m closer than I’ve ever been to getting back to that point,” Kieboom reasoned. “Every day, honestly, it could be the day where it all syncs up and that’s the exciting part of it. I’m going to keep a good attitude. I’m going to do what I have to do.”

On Sunday, he arrived and went straight to the cage. He took a round of swings and, not feeling right, went inside to watch 30 minutes of video from his best minor league stretches. He struggled with the Single-a Potomac Nationals before going on a tear. He was a top prospect who, despite a lot of strikeouts, seemed to click at every level. But he has been searching for that swing since debuting with the Nationals in late April 2019.

He spotted differences between his old and current self, and he headed back out. Troy Gingrich, the Nationals’ minor league hitting coordinator, threw him pitches. Brian Daubach, another minor league hitting coach, sat in a folding chair about 10 feet away. The three chatted during breaks and critiqued Kieboom.

Soon the starters — Josh Bell, Trea Turner, Josh Harrison — trickled to the stadium for an exhibition against the St. Louis Cardinals. A week ago, Kieboom was one of them, hitting eighth, looking for any tweak to help. When none did, he faced another blast of public criticism. But he understood the noise.

“I don’t let stuff like that necessarily affect me,” Kieboom said of seeing negative comments about him. “People are going to say things.”

“Failing is always frustrating,” he said with a slight smile. “That’s just human nature.”