Nationals First-Round Pick Rides Surge at Plate to Minor League Promotion

After 65 professional games, the Washington Nationals’ first-round pick from a year ago is already at Double-A Harrisburg.

Seaver King played his first game with the Senators on Tuesday after the organization promoted him from High-A Wilmington after just 45 games this season.

In his debut with Harrisburg, King played shortstop and batted third, going 1-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. He also struck out once. He made his debut the same night that Nationals center fielder Jacob Young started his rehab assignment.

Nationals Promote Seaver King

After a slow start to this season, King did more than enough to earn the promotion.

In 45 games at Wilmington, he slashed .263/.307/.380 with a .687 OPS. He had six doubles, three triples, three home runs and 17 RBI. He also stole 12 bases.

In his first 11 games of the season, he slashed .143/.217/.167.

Shortly after that, the 22-year-old started to turn things around. He put together a seven-game hitting streak and batted .458, going 11-for-24 at the plate. That pushed his slash up to 237/.318/.305 with a home run and four RBI.

Since then, his numbers have only gotten steadier. His speed also makes him an intriguing weapon. His 12 stolen bases are already two more than he had last year in 20 games at Class A Fredericksburg.

There, he slashed .295/.367/.385 with no home runs and 10 RBI. Washington sees the former Wake Forest Demon Deacons star as a potential shortstop or third baseman at the Major League level.

MLB Pipeline sees King as the organization’s No. 4 prospect, behind pitchers Travis Sykora and Jarlin Susana, and third baseman Brady House.

King only played one year of Division I baseball after he spent his first two collegiate seasons at Division II Wingate. While at Wingate he authored the third-longest hitting streak in Division II history at 47 games.

King transferred to Wake Forest for his junior season. With the Demon Deacons, he was selected third-team all-ACC and was a Dick Howser Trophy semifinalist.

He started every game for Wake Forest and led the Demon Deacons with 78 hits. He also ranked second with 64 RBI and 59 runs. He hit 16 home runs and slashed .308/.377/.577. He had at least one hit in 48 games, multiple hits in 24 games and multiple RBI in 21 games. He also had a 31-game on-base streak.