Two Former Washington Nationals First Round Picks Opt To Become Free Agents
There is plenty of young talent within this Washington Nationals organization that should give hope for how things will look in the upcoming years.
After trading away Juan Soto in a difficult decision at the 2022 trade deadline, it looks like that deal was a home run for them with almost all of their returning pieces looking like they could become franchise cornerstones.
Beyond that, there are others in the pipeline who seem to have bright futures as well, and based on how general manager Mike Rizzo has operated recently, they will get a chance to prove they can be part of this team going forward during the upcoming 2025 season.
However, two of the Nationals past first-round picks are no longer with the team.
According to Mark Zuckerman of MASN, Carter Kieboom and Mason Denaburg have elected to become free agents, ending their tenure within Washington's organization.
Kieboom was taken 28th overall in the 2016 draft, and early on in his career, he was thought to be their third baseman of the future.
But things didn't quite work out that way.
He could never get things going at the plate, slashing .199/.297/.301 with 12 homers, 42 RBI and an OPS+ of 65 across his 133 Major League games from 2019-23. The Tommy John surgery he underwent that caused him to miss the entire 2022 campaign didn't help him either.
At 27 years old, Kieboom will look for his next opportunity elsewhere, hoping he can resurrect his career and live up to the first-round projection he had almost a decade ago.
As for Denaburg, he never came close to reaching the MLB.
Despite being taken 27th overall in 2018, the right-handed pitcher hasn't even made it to Double-A at any point of his career, having been snake bitten by injuries and poor play throughout.
While the Nationals are certainly brimming with young talent at this stage of their rebuild, the departures of Kieboom and Denaburg this offseason are reminders of how poor they have been at drafting players in the first round over the years.
Hopefully that will come to an end as the front office looks to supplement their pipeline while their star prospects get called up to The Show.
