The Washington Nationals selected the contract of catcher Spencer Kieboom from Double-A Harrisburg on Tuesday. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement.
Kieboom joins the Nationals for the first Major League assignment of his career. The 25-year-old is a career .264 hitter with a .344 on-base percentage and a .381 slugging percentage over the course of his five seasons in the Minor Leagues. This year, with Double-A Harrisburg, Kieboom hit .230 in 94 games with 11 doubles, five home runs and 31 RBI with 43 walks.
Considered a strong defensive catcher with advanced game-calling skills, Kieboom has thrown out 34 percent of attempted base stealers during his Minor League career (100-of-282). He has also been tasked with catching some of Washington's most advanced pitching prospects the last few seasons, an integral cog in their development. During the 2014 season, that included a rotation of Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, Nick Pivetta and Austin Voth for Single-A Hagerstown. This year, with Double-A Harrisburg, he backstopped for other top prospects, such as Koda Glover and Erick Fedde.
A fifth-round selection of the Nationals' out of Clemson University in the 2012 First-Year Player Draft, Kieboom has steadily advanced through Washington's Minor League system, climbing one level each year. He was added to the team's 40-man roster in advance of the 2016 season.