Carter Kieboom Shows Wide-Ranging Skill

Shortstop Carter Kieboom can hit for a power. He showed that in a three-home run game on April 30 at low Class A Hagerstown—but that’s far from the only tool that the 2016 first-round pick had displayed this year.

“He shows a controlled aggressiveness,” Suns manager Patrick Anderson said. “I was just happy with how he stayed within himself and got good pitches. He was able to drive the ball to right field on that last (home run), and that was real impressive.”

Anderson also has seen improved defense from the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Kieboom, who signed for $2 million after being drafted 28th overall out of Walton High in Marietta, Ga.

“He has really adapted to Jeff Garber, our infield coordinator, and they’ve been working their tails off,” Anderson said. “He has good arm strength, his glove has come along and his footwork is getting better. There’s room for growth, but I’m really impressed with what I’ve seen from instructional league to now.”

The 19-year-old Kieboom hit .333/.398/.586 with six homers through 29 games.

One of Kieboom’s older brothers, 26-year-old Spencer, made his major league debut last season for the Nationals and is still a catcher in the system at Double-A Harrisburg. His other brother Trevor pitched at the University of Georgia and is now an agent.

“It started with my dad coming over from the Netherlands when he was 17. He played catcher growing up,” Carter Kieboom said. “I grew up watching Spencer play all the time and being the bat boy of his team. Same thing with Trevor.”

The youngest of the Kieboom boys discovered he was naturally an infielder.

“I wasn’t quite the body type for a catcher,” Kieboom said. “We all kind of did our own thing. Growing up, it was a lot of fun for me to be able to watch them play and learn from them and be able to play the game the right way.”

— Lacy Lusk is a writer based in Virginia