How to evaluate Kieboom midway through camp

There are two types of ballplayers in any spring training camp: Those who know they can use this time to prepare themselves for the regular season, and those who believe they need to perform now to have a chance to still be around for the regular season.

As much as everyone wishes he was in the first category, the truth is many are left stuck in the latter group. These are the guys who are competing for jobs, and because of that they often feel like their spring numbers matter a lot more than they should.

It is with that in mind that we pose the following question this morning: Does Carter Kieboom need to put up solid numbers this spring to ensure he's the Nationals' opening night third baseman? If so, he still has some work to do over the final two and a half weeks of camp.

Kieboom has played in six Grapefruit League games to date, and his stats are fairly pedestrian. He's batting .250 (4-for-16) with a triple, an RBI and four strikeouts. He hasn't drawn a walk. He hasn't recorded a double or a home run.

What should we read into all that? Not too much, Davey Martinez insists.

"Any young player wants to see results," the Nationals manager said Wednesday during a Zoom session with reporters. "For us, we want to see him compete and go out there and have fun. That's the biggest thing. I don't want him to put pressure on himself because he doesn't get a hit. I just want to see him have good at-bats. If he has good, consistent at-bats, he'll start getting his hits."

Managers, coaches and front office decision-makers don't really use spring stats when evaluating players this time of year. They're more interested in how a guy looks. Do they see evidence of a quality approach at the plate? Is the player in question using the whole field when hitting the ball? Is he producing line drives, fly balls or grounders?

In Kieboom's case, they appear to see more positives than negatives.

"In batting practice, I'm watching him drive the ball, hitting balls out to right-center field, center field, left-center field," Martinez said. "So that's encouraging. We hope that transfers to the games. But it's all a timing thing. I think it'll come."

Few, if any, Nationals players are under a magnifying glass as potent as the one focused on Kieboom this spring. The 23-year-old, who has underachieved in a limited sample of 44 big leagues games over the last two seasons, is trying to prove he should be the club's starting third baseman. And team officials haven't wavered in their praise for him.

But results do matter at some point, right? The Nationals do need to see some hard-hit balls turn into hits. They need to some semblance of power from a top prospect who has delivered only three extra-base hits in 165 career plate appearances. And they need him to continue to draw walks the way he did as a rookie while still remaining aggressive when given a pitch in the strike zone.

"The thing we want to get him do is, when he gets a good pitch to hit, not miss it," Martinez said. "Not foul it off. Those balls have got to be put in play. It's still early. Spring training's about timing. Get your timing. I watch his batting practice, and his swing looks really good. I know the hits haven't been there, but I like some of his at-bats so far."

Performance matters. Approach matters. And mindset matters. That last point can be tricky for some unproven players who can't help but worry about their stats, and in the process hurt themselves in other areas of the game.

"He's been pretty good about that," Martinez said of Kieboom. "He's gone out there and made good plays on defense, and he's been engaged. I like that. That shows maturity. When he first came up to the big leagues, he struggled with that a little bit. He carried his at-bats to the field, and that's where the errors came through. He's definitely a lot better with that. ... He understands that. He's doing well with that."