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Washington Nationals: The organization’s best prospect at each position

By Blake Finney

WEST PALM BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 28: The Washington Nationals logo on one of the practice fields at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches prior to a spring training game against the Houston Astros on February 28, 2017 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)
WEST PALM BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 28: The Washington Nationals logo on one of the practice fields at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches prior to a spring training game against the Houston Astros on February 28, 2017 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images) /
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Washington Nationals Carter Kieboom
(Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images) /

Second Base – Carter Kieboom

Next Up: Cole Freeman, Carson Shaddy, Viandel Pena

Even though Carter Kieboom has almost exclusively played shortstop in the minor leagues to this point, it’s pretty clear second base is his path to the major leagues. The Washington Nationals are expecting him to be close to major league ready this year.

Kieboom firmly placed himself among some of the game’s top prospects with an impressive 2018 season that saw him slash .280/.357/.444 with 16 home runs and 69 RBI. He was an All-Star with the P-Nats, played in the Futures Game at Nats Park and even went down the Arizona Fall League. Oh, and he was named the Nats minor league player of the year. Not bad.

The young infielder has impressed at every level he’s been at, and it’s just a matter of time until he forces the Nationals’ hand to call him up. However, he now needs to learn a new position to get there with Trea Turner entrenched as the team’s shortstop.

Thankfully, the Nats don’t need to rush Kieboom after the signing of Brian Dozier to a one-year, $9 million deal to keep the keystone warm for him. Even with Dozier around, we should still see Kieboom this season, perhaps as a September call-up, and he could help form quite an exciting double-play combination with Turner for many years to come.

The organization’s second base pool is extremely thin, with recent draftees including both Cole Freeman and Carson Shaddy who are solid at everything, without being outstanding in any area of their game. Viandel Pena is a recent signee who participated in the DSL last year with solid results but is a long way away from popping up on the prospect radar.

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