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Seaver King’s first full professional season went a bit rocky in 2025, posting an 88 wRC+ in 125 games, including a 78 wRC+ at Double A. While he flashed some incredible tools, such as plus defensive ability at shortstop and elite speed, his lack of plate discipline and struggle to tap into his power limited his offensive upside.
Coupled with the fact that seemingly every player selected before and after King in the 2024 MLB Draft is now a top prospect in the sport or already a big leaguer, it’s understandable why the fanbase has had some frustrations with King’s development.
While the regular season didn’t go quite as many hoped it would for King in 2025, his performance in the Arizona Fall League was certainly worth tuning in for. In 18 games and 79 plate appearances, he hit .359 with 2 home runs and a 1.030 OPS. The sample size was small, but the underlying metrics backed up his strong performance, as he posted a 93rd percentile average exit velocity, 96th percentile hard hit rate, and 72nd percentile strikeout rate in the AFL.
King has taken the improvements he made in the AFL and, so far, applied them to Spring Training, as he is 4-8 with 4 singles and a walk so far this spring, good for a 180 wRC+. Perhaps most importantly, he has yet to strike out, a pleasing sight after he ran a 21% strikeout rate in the minors last year.
The sample is once again way, way too small to draw any meaningful conclusions from, but the fact that King has been able to perform well against upper-minor-league and big league pitching is very reassuring for his future as a big league hitter.
King will almost certainly begin his 2026 regular season campaign in Double A, playing Shortstop everyday. While he struggled at the level in his 80 games there in 2025, his strong AFL performance, coupled with the new coaching staff around him, has me more confident this time around in his ability to handle the pitching at that level. If he goes out and performs well in the first few months of 2026, he should see a promotion to Rochester, putting him on the doorstep of the big leagues. If his breakout continues there, could we see Seaver King in DC by the end of the year?
King’s big league fate this season would depend not only on his own production, but the production and future of those ahead of him already. 4 shortstops sit ahead of Seaver King in the Nationals organization currently: Sergio Alcantara, Levi Jordan, Nasim Nunez, and CJ Abrams.
The 29-year-old Alcantara and 30-year-old Jordan are more organizational depth than anything, not making them major hurdles for King if he has an offensive breakout, but Nunez could prove difficult to overtake for King, as he has the benefit of already being a big leaguer and sharing many similar skills to King, as both are speedsters with plus defense at shortstop and questions with their bats.
Then, of course, there is CJ Abrams, the Nats’ star shortstop, who is leaps and bounds better offensively than King at the moment, but lacking on the defensive side of the ball. While it’s hard to envision King outright taking the shortstop position from Abrams anytime soon, there is the potential for Abrams moving off it to open the spot for him, whether that be from Abrams moving to another position, such as second base, or Abrams being traded to another ballclub.
In a world where King has the breakout 2026 campaign fans are hoping for, and Abrams is moved at the deadline for more prospects to strengthen the farm system, I believe there is the potential for Seaver King to be playing middle infield for the Nationals in the backend of the 2026 season. Thanks to his great versatility, his path to big league playing time is increased, as he could come up and play any number of positions the Nats need him to.