Since being drafted with the 10th overall selection back in the 1st round of the 2024 MLB Draft, former Wake Forest infielder Seaver King has had an interesting start to his professional career. While the pick was a bit of a head-scratcher at the time, as the Washington Nationals notably passed on prospects like Cam Smith (Cubs), Braden Montgomery (Red Sox), and Bryce Rainer (Tigers), the thought was that King would be able to move quickly through the minor leagues, although that is not what we've seen from him so far.
While King did actually look pretty solid in his 20-game sample size down with Low-A Fredericksburg, helping them secure a Carolina League Championship, he has not looked like the same player so far in 2025 with High-A Wilmington. His slash line for last season in that limited time was .295/.367/.385, good for a .752 OPS with 10 RBIs, 10 stolen bases, and a 9:13 BB:K ratio.
Those are solid numbers, and it seemed like things were progressing well for King to begin his professional career, and we were just going to be waiting for the power to translate. However, after just 10 games with High-A Wilmington, there have been some red flags that have risen to his prospect profile, and they are making him tougher to defend at this time.
I will note that I am still not worried about King, as 10 games is an incredibly small sample size, but I hope he can show some improvement in certain categories sooner vice later. In 10 games, he enters play on Thursday with a .128/.209/.154 slash line, and has a 4:19 BB:K ratio in just 39 at-bats. That is a strikeout rate of about 49% in the early going, and that is definitely a cause for major concern. He has just 5 total hits so far, with only one of them going for extra bases.
The good news is that he is coming off his best game of the season, going 2/4 with a walk, an RBI, and stolen base on Wednesday. However, he still did have 2 strikeouts as well. The swing-and-miss to his game was not something that we really anticipated to see this much from King at the lower levels of the minor leagues, and it is definitely worth monitoring to see how much it hinders his ability to advance through the minors.
He has shown at various levels of his baseball career that he is able to overcome adversity, as he began his college career at Wingate University, before transferring to Wake Forest for his junior season, and putting up solid but not overwhelming numbers with the Demon Deacons. The thought around the pick was that the Nationals would be getting a high-floor player for underslot value, which allowed the team to sign Luke Dickerson, their 2nd round pick, to a record contract for a player taken outside of the 1st round.
As I said before, I am still not worried about King, as he has all of 30 games played at the professional level so far in his career, and prospects can take a long time to develop, no matter if they came from the prep or collegiate level. Aaron Judge was a former 1st round pick out of Fresno State University back in 2013, and didn't even make his big league debut until 2016 for the Yankees. I remember there being some legitimate concerns about whether or not he would ever make the big leagues back in the day, and obviously all of that talk seems completely laughable in hindsight.
There is certainly no reason to give up on King, but definitely some red flags to his game that are going to be worth monitoring as we progress through the minor league season. I chose him to be my breakout prospect in the organization this season for a reason, and I am looking forward to seeing how he can bounce back from this early adversity in 2025. I am still hoping that there is a chance we see him in the Nationals infield with Brady House, CJ Abrams, and others as soon as 2026.
What do you think of Seaver King's progress so far this season? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.