WASHINGTON -- Infielder/outfielder Seaver King had been to a Draft party before. In his senior year of high school in 2020, King was at the celebration for childhood friend and Nationals first-round pick Brady House.
Four years later on Sunday, King was at his own festivities -- drafted into the same organization at No. 10 overall in the 2024 MLB Draft.
“Being able to play together growing up and now maybe being able to play together as professionals is going to be something super cool,” King said of House, the Nationals’ No. 3 prospect (No. 44 in MLB).
King was hoping to be selected somewhere in the range of Nos. 12-24. When his agent called him 10 minutes before the event began and told him he was likely to be chosen by the Nationals with the No. 10 pick, the 21-year-old Wake Forest product was surprised.
“They were really never on the radar,” King, ranked as MLB Pipeline’s No. 17 overall Draft prospect, said on a Zoom call with local media on Sunday. “ ... Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to go and ended up going. It just kind of just hit me and is still hitting me right now. Just an overwhelming moment.”
King took an unconventional route to get to this point after being lightly recruited out of high school in Athens, Ga. King attended Division II Wingate University in North Carolina and admits that when he arrived on campus, he never thought that transferring to a Division I program would one day be a possibility, much less getting to the professional ranks.
“Going to Wingate, I knew I was going to play four years and get a 9 to 5 [job] and kind of be a normal human,” King said. “Then after my freshman year, I had a good year and I kind of knew that maybe Division I baseball was going to be it for me, and maybe I could go pursue that. Then I played in the Cape and Team USA, and that’s kind of where it became real for me.”
King added 20 pounds to his frame after starting at Wingate and absolutely dominated Division II opponents at the plate over two seasons, posting a .399 batting average and producing the third-longest hitting streak in DII history at 47 games.
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Following his sophomore season, King entered the transfer portal and committed to play for Wake Forest. After a stint with the collegiate national team, King joined Wake Forest for the 2023-24 academic year and continued to prove his mettle against tougher competition, hitting .308 with 16 homers, 64 RBIs and a .954 OPS over 60 games.
While he could stand to improve his plate discipline at the next level, King excels at putting the ball in play with a compact right-handed stroke geared for hitting line drives to all fields. He’s also a versatile defender with well above-average speed and solid arm strength.
“He plays at a speed that very few guys do when he wants to,” Nationals vice president of amateur scouting Danny Hass said. “... He’s just an incredible athlete, and we’re happy to have him.”
King saw time at four positions (2B, SS, 3B, CF) for Wake Forest, appearing most often at third base. He said he is most comfortable at shortstop, but he would play anywhere -- even as catcher, he joked -- if it would help the team win. King also placed fifth in Georgia in high jump as a two-sport athlete.
“Some of our special-assignment scouts were watching [King] one night. The regular shortstop had an injury, and they got on the phone, called us and said, 'We think he’s going to play shortstop tomorrow,'” vice president of amateur scouting Danny Haas recounted. “We popped in there as quick as we could. He made a fantastic play at shortstop -- and that one play convinced us that he was definitely a shortstop long term.”
King, right-hander Chase Burns (No. 2, Reds) and first baseman Nick Kurtz (No. 4, Athletics) became the second trio of college teammates to be drafted in the top 10. Similarly, the Nationals' 2023 first-round pick -- outfielder Dylan Crews (No. 2) -- and right-hander Paul Skenes (No. 1, Pirates) were college teammates at LSU.
The last time the Nationals selected at No. 10 was in 2009, when they drafted right-hander Drew Storen.
“Coming here if you had told me yesterday I would have been a top 10 pick, I wouldn’t have believed you. And it’s a reality today,” King said. “I’m just super thankful for the opportunity, and I’m ready to get to work.”