Seaver King will head into the 2026 season trying to enhance on a 2025 marketing campaign that noticed him fail to impress on the plate. Throughout 551 plate appearances break up between Excessive-A Wilmington and Double-A Harrisburg, the 22-year-old shortstop slashed a lackluster .244/.294/.337 with six house runs and an 88 wRC+. There may be actually extra within the tank. Drafted tenth total by the Washington Nationals out of Wake Forest College in 2024, King has each the résumé and the uncooked instruments to profile as a strong hitter on the huge league degree.
He flashed a few of that promise within the admittedly hitter-friendly Arizona Fall League. As our lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen put it, King “rebounded in a giant manner,” raking to the tune of a 1.031 OPS and eight extra-base hits over 79 plate appearances with the Scottsdale Scorpions. Simply as importantly, he displayed the sleek right-handed stroke that enables him to shoot balls to all elements of the sphere, which is what he does when he’s on the high of his recreation.
He isn’t missing in confidence, neither is he afraid of some trustworthy self-assessment. Reportedly promoting out for energy early final season, the Athens, Georgia native has come round to realizing that staying true to himself is what’s going to produce the perfect outcomes.
“I really feel like I carry loads to the desk,” King informed me early in his AFL stint. “Protection. Management. I’m nonetheless discovering my manner within the field, clearly. It’s powerful taking part in in opposition to elite competitors, so I’ve to go on the market and play my recreation. That’s hitting line drives. I’ll perhaps combine in a few house runs with the appropriate launch angle, however largely I’m attempting to get on base and transfer round them as quick as doable.”
Motoring is amongst his higher attributes — a 60 runner on the 20-80 scouting scale, he swiped 30 luggage and was nabbed simply 4 occasions in 2025 — as is his glove. Rated the perfect defensive infielder within the Washington system by our pals at Baseball America, King has good palms, in addition to strong vary and a plus arm. He additionally has versatility in his software field. Whereas he initiatives finest at his present place, King noticed extra time at third base and in heart subject throughout his draft yr at Wake Forest, as slick-fielding 2025 Minnesota Twins first-rounder Marek Houston was firmly ensconced at shortstop.
An analogous state of affairs might come up in D.C. Not solely do the Nationals at present make use of the 25-year-old CJ Abrams (57 house runs and 109 steals over the previous three seasons) on the place, they drafted 18-year-old shortstop Eli Willits first total this previous summer season. Whereas Willits remains to be just a few years away, his ceiling is each bit as excessive as Abrams’ and loftier than King’s.
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As for King’s offensive skills, he acknowledged that attempting to hit for energy isn’t in his finest curiosity, although that isn’t to say he lacks juice; he went yard 16 occasions with the Demon Deacons in his draft yr.
“The extra I attempt to launch, the extra my swing will get out of whack,” King defined. “Principally, the deeper I let the pitch journey, the higher outcomes I’ve. When I attempt to pull the ball, my path will get off, so I must be centered towards right-center. If I can hit each fastball to right-center, I’ll be wonderful. After which, if I find yourself pulling the baseball, I pull the baseball.
“My purpose is to hit the ball as onerous as doable on a regular basis, and regardless of the result’s, that’s the consequence,” he added. “For probably the most half, I need to hold the ball low and within the gaps. I additionally need to transfer the ball as quickly as doable and never should work too deep into counts. I’m an aggressive hitter.”
Aggression isn’t a fault in itself, however swinging out of the zone at a excessive clip hardly ever results in success. King’s chase fee final yr was 37%, which was not solely removed from ideally suited, it represented a possible pink flag going ahead. No scarcity of younger hitters have had their plate self-discipline inefficiencies exploited by extra skilled pitchers as they’ve climbed the minor league ladder.
I requested King why he doesn’t need to work deep counts.
“I’m not a affected person man,” he admitted. “It’s onerous for me to sit down there and be choosy, be tremendous choosy. I imply, I can work deep into counts, however I additionally don’t need to miss a cookie or be late on a pitch I can transfer. Ready to your pitch… these guys are too good for that, particularly whenever you get to 2 strikes.”
King skilled that first hand in his first full skilled season. After fanning in 14.4% of his plate appearances (and logging a 121 wRC+) with Fredericksburg in 2024, he noticed that quantity climb to 21.1% in 2025. Furthermore, his stroll fee dipped from 10% to a free-swinging 5.8%. Considerably surprisingly, he seems again at that first summer season as being the much less selective of the 2.
“Once I signed, I used to be simply swinging,” remembered King, who’d had 78 strikeouts and 55 walks to go along with a .362 batting common over 683 plate appearances throughout his three collegiate campaigns. “If it regarded like a strike, I used to be going. That obtained me in bother, clearly, as a result of I used to be falling behind in counts. I might get away with that in faculty — simply placing the bat on the ball and perhaps getting fortunate — however particularly with wooden, I need to get a pitch I can deal with. Then, with two strikes, I simply battle. However like I mentioned, I’m an aggressive hitter. I need to transfer the ball.”
As of now, Longenhagen expects to assign King a forty five+ FV when our 2026 Nationals checklist publishes within the coming months. Additional sprucing his strategy will solely assist the athletically-gifted infielder obtain the next grade. Extra meaningfully, it could additionally enhance his possibilities of in the future changing into a daily contributor to the Nationals lineup, slightly than only a speedy and versatile function participant. Regardless of the underwhelming efficiency with the stick in his first full season, the potential for that taking place stays.