The Los Angeles Angels did some typical offseason roster maintenance on Wednesday, and it resulted in a former first-round pick leaving the organization.
Los Angeles outrighted four players off the 40-man roster on Wednesday: right-handed pitchers Connor Brogdon and Carson Fulmer, first baseman Logan Davidson, and third baseman Carter Kieboom. And Kieboom wasted no time deciding to explore his other options.
According to the transaction log on his official roster page, Kieboom elected free agency on Wednesday. He becomes immediately eligible to sign a minor- or major-league contract with any of the 30 clubs.
A 28-year-old with no minor-league options and five partial years of major league experience, Kieboom spent most of the season with Triple-A Salt Lake, but was called up for the final two weeks of the regular season, when the Angels had long been out of the playoff discussion.
Kieboom was once thought of as the future of the third-base position with the Washington Nationals. It was a major reason why Washington was willing to let Anthony Rendon sign a massive deal with, yes, the Angels, following the World Series championship in 2019.
But after six unproductive years floating between the majors and minors, Kieboom elected free agency after he didn’t appear in a single major league game last year, due equally to injuries and lack of production. He appeared in all of three games for LA at the major league level this season, going 2-for-8 without an extra-base hit.
For Triple-A Salt Lake this year, Kieboom slashed .319/.368/.449, with nine home runs and 57 RBIs in 93 games. While those numbers certainly aren’t bad, it’s worth noting that the Pacific Coast League is well-known for its high-scoring environment, so fringe big-league types don’t always get the benefit of the doubt for their strong production.
At this point, it’s clearly an uphill battle for Kieboom to live up to his billing as a 2016 first-round pick. But as long as he intends to continue his playing career, there will always be the chance something clicks with the right organization.
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