Starlin Castro playing third raises questions about Carter Kieboom’s immediate future
When Martinez put Castro at third, the Nationals were nine days and six exhibitions from opening their season. If Kieboom is the supposed starter, it would seem prudent to give him every opportunity to find a rhythm. But if he’s not, now a growing possibility, the Nationals have to test their backup plans before April 1. That’s how Castro, the expected every second baseman, winds up at third, where he has just 45 career appearances.
Martinez, always careful when discussing Kieboom, repeated that the club has not decided on its everyday third baseman. But even saying that gave a clear view of the situation.
“Look, I’m a Carter fan. Everybody knows that,” Martinez said Tuesday morning. “But he still has to go out there and do his job. And he knows that. This doesn’t mean anything. We just want to see what this looks like right now. Carter’s going to get an opportunity to play third base. We’ll see how it looks. This is the last week. We’ve got to hone in on some things.
“No decisions have been made yet. But we want to make sure we take the 26 best guys that we can possibly take.”
Martinez’s last thought invites some more unpacking. If the Nationals don’t see Kieboom as their third baseman right now, what are the ripple effects? Who are the 26 best guys to take north?
With Castro playing third Tuesday, Martinez plugged 20-year-old Luis García in at second. García took the spot last summer after Castro’s season ended with a broken left wrist. Now, though, he is the other young infielder in this evolving equation. He could get a chance at second if Castro shifts over to third full-time. Or, if the Nationals feel Josh Harrison could fill third or second, both Kieboom and García may find themselves in the minors early on.
That adds complications, too. The minor league season won’t start until May, leaving teams with the alternate sites they used in 2020. Washington typically likes to have its best talent getting regular at-bats. That means, in most years, neither Kieboom or García would hang in the majors if only a bench spot were available. But having just the alternate site in April, and no games aside from intrasquad scrimmages, could change the Nationals’ thinking.
Should Kieboom earn the spot, a realistic bench alignment is Harrison; catcher Alex Avila; first baseman Ryan Zimmerman; outfielder Andrew Stevenson; then perhaps either Jordy Mercer or Hernán Pérez, two veteran infielders on nonroster invites to camp (if Martinez chooses to carry eight relievers and five bench players, not a nine-man bullpen and four reserves). Yet if Kieboom doesn’t cement himself, the extra infielders — the ones aside from Castro, Josh Bell and Trea Turner — could be some mix of Harrison, Zimmerman, Pérez, Mercer, García or Adrián Sanchez.
Pérez, Mercer or Sanchez would need a 40-man roster spot to be activated. This is the kind of uncertainty teams try to avoid in late March.
“From day one, we always told him I want him to be the guy, but that’s totally up to him,” Martinez said of Kieboom. “And he understood that. Because Starlin is playing over there, it doesn’t mean that we made any decision whatsoever. We got a week left, but we want to make sure that if something does happen, that we don’t throw Starlin over there Opening Day and say: ‘Hey, go get ‘em.’ I’m not going to do that to him, either.”
So to fully answer the original question: Playing Castro at third was to prepare for pivoting away from Kieboom, should that be necessary. Before Tuesday’s exhibition, Martinez offered his usual prediction of Kieboom hitting 40 doubles and between 15 and 20 homers one day. He stressed, again and again, that he wants Kieboom to win the job.
He seems to be holding out hope.
“This is a results-driven game, but I’m looking at guys who hit the ball hard consistently, take their walks, which he does,” Martinez explained. “But putting the meat of the bat on the ball consistently, I haven’t seen that yet here. I’ve seen it. I know he can do it. He’s done it every year in the minor leagues, so we’re waiting for that to happen.”
