Phillies Acquire Infielder Carter Kieboom From Guardians for Cash

Carter Kieboom's career trajectory has been one of baseball's quiet cautionary tales: drafted 28th overall by the Washington Nationals in 2016, ranked as high as No. 21 on MLB Pipeline's top-100 list, a Futures Game participant who at one point seemed destined to be a prominent division foe for the Phillies. Instead, he landed in Philadelphia on March 21 as a minor-league depth acquisition, with the Phillies paying cash to the Cleveland Guardians for the right to find out if there's anything left.

The Phillies acquired infielder Kieboom from the Guardians in exchange for cash considerations, as reported by MLB.com's Tim Stebbins shortly before the Guardians officially announced the trade. Kieboom, 28, joins the Phillies after signing a minor-league deal with Cleveland in January 2026 that included a non-roster invitation to spring training. He hit .160 (4 for 25) with one homer and five RBI in 16 games this spring, and struggled to take walks, highlighted by his 3.8 percent walk rate, and struck out at an alarming 34.6 percent rate.

The gap between Kieboom's minor-league resume and his major-league production tells the whole story. In 93 games with the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees in 2025, Kieboom maintained a .319 batting average and a .817 OPS while slugging nine home runs. At the Triple-A level over his career, he has posted a .288/.380/.439 slash line across nearly 1,600 plate appearances. Against major-league pitching, he has just a .200/.297/.300 slash line to show for 516 career plate appearances. He didn't appear in the big leagues at all in 2024, and a minor-league deal with the Los Angeles Angels last winter resulted in only three MLB games in 2025.

Kieboom currently owns a career 64 wRC+ and a negative fWAR of -2.1 in 136 games and 516 plate appearances. Those are not numbers that suggest an imminent roster spot. "It's a minor-league depth move for probably a small amount of cash. He won't get called up unless a couple of guys get injured, barring an unexpected improvement in performance," as MLB Trade Rumors noted in its transaction coverage.

The Phillies' rationale is straightforward. Philadelphia adds infield insurance across third base, shortstop, and second base as it finalizes both its major-league roster and Triple-A alignment ahead of Opening Day. Kieboom has primarily been a corner infielder for the last few years with a handful of games at second base, so he could provide some utility infield depth should the Phillies ever have a need to select him to the 26-man roster. He is expected to begin the season at Triple-A Lehigh Valley, slotting in behind Liover Peguero and possibly Aidan Miller on the organizational depth chart.

If Kieboom can perform well in Triple-A Lehigh Valley, the Phillies may call him up to cover innings at first, second, or third base in the event of an injury. If he can't, all the Phillies gave up was cash considerations, and presumably not a large amount. Should he reach the majors at any point this season, the Phillies would control his rights through 2029 via arbitration, which makes the negligible cost of acquisition look even more sensible.

For Cleveland, the move clears space within its infield group and recoups cash from a recent minor-league signing. For Kieboom, it's one more organization, one more shot at cracking a big-league roster. The Triple-A numbers have always been there. Now 28, he has a narrowing window to prove they weren't a mirage.