Phillies Make Trade With Guardians at Spring Training

During his time with Cleveland this Spring Training, Kieboom batted .160 in 26 plate appearances and slugged one home run. But there was a time when the 28-year-old Georgia native was thought to be one of the top prospects in all of baseball.

Kieboom was drafted by the Washington Nationals with the 28th overall pick of the 2016 draft and performed well in the minors, earning himself the #25 prospect ranking in 2019 and the #21 ranking in 2020 (h/t MLB Pipeline).

The Nationals were big believers in Kieboom, so much so that they refused to trade Kieboom at the 2019 trade deadline when the Tigers wanted him for shutdown reliever Shane Greene (h/t Jon Morosi, MLB Network). It's also speculated that the Nationals were able to stomach third baseman Anthony Rendon's departure in free agency because they trusted that Kieboom was ready to take on the mantle of the hot corner.

Unfortunately, Kieboom has yet to find extended success at the major league level. Across 133 games and four seasons with the Nationals, Kieboom had a .598 OPS and a batting average below the Mendoza Line.

But Kieboom and the Nationals parted ways after 2024, and he had a successful season in the minor leagues with the Angels in 2025. In 93 games with the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees, Kieboom maintained a .319 batting average and a respectable .817 OPS while slugging nine home runs.

If Kieboom can continue to perform that way in Triple-A Lehigh Valley for the Phillies, they may call him up to cover some innings at first, second, or third base in the event that someone gets injured.

If he can't perform well at Triple-A, all the Phillies gave up was cash considerations, and presumably not a large amount. It's a low-risk depth move for a player who could very well see some time in a Phillies uniform this season.