2025 The Nats Report Nationals Top Prospects (Part 7)

Editors Note: Check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 Part 5, Part 6 and our top ten list!

At long last, we come to the top end of the prospect list, with six players who all have serious star potential. Four of the six have yet to reach AA, but I would be willing to bet that all of them except Alex Clemmey will get to Harrisburg by the end of this season.

The progress of these top-level prospects should tell us a lot about the continued implementation of the methods of Eddie Longosz, the Nats' VP of player development. That progress should also tell us a lot about when to expect the next true contender at Nats Park - three or four of these guys hitting as major league regulars would go a long way towards that goal.

Better yet, all of them are fun players that are easy to get excited about. Read on!

Tier 7: Possible All-Stars or Better

#6 Seaver King

Pos: SS | 2025 Age: 22 | B/T: R/R | 2024 Level: A | 

MLB Comp: a poor man’s Mookie Betts

Acquired: 2024 amateur draft, 1st round/10th overall

AVG/OBP/SLG: .295/.367/.385 | HR: 0 | SB/ATT: 10/11 | wRC+: 122

Two years ago King was a relative unknown, a strong performer at Division II Wingate College who was planning for a professional career in something other than baseball. After a dynamite 2023 at Wingate (.411/.457/.699 with 11 bolts) followed by an impressive summer in the Cape Cod League, the premiere summer wood bat league for amateurs, King transferred to Division I powerhouse Wake Forest and put himself on the map as a first-round draft pick. He is an elite athlete with terrific bat speed who makes frequent contact - his 11.6% K rate since the start of his college career is lower than all but four MLB players in 2024: Luis Arraez, Steven Kwan, Nico Hoerner, and (drumroll please)...Mookie Betts. Also like Betts (a comparison that was made by his college coach), we don’t yet know where King will play in the field; in college and summer leagues he bounced around between third base, second base, shortstop, and center field, but in his twenty games for Fredericksburg after being drafted exclusively played shortstop. I attended an August game there where I saw him range deep into the hole for two balls that CJ Abrams would never touch (he got the out on one of them); if he can stick there as he moves up through the system he will be a very valuable player indeed. The ceiling here is a strong-fielding shortstop with electric speed and plus power. King should open 2025 in high-A Wilmington with a chance to progress to AA or possibly AAA before the end of the season.

#5 Alex Clemmey

Pos: LHP | 2025 Age: 19 | B/T: L/L | 2024 Level: A | 

MLB Comp: taller Blake Snell

Acquired: traded by the Guardians for Lane Thomas, 7/29/2024

ERA: 4.58 | WHIP: 1.408 | FIP: 3.61 | IP: 92.1 | K/9: 12.0 | BB/9: 6.1

The Nats drafted arguably the best right-handed high school arm in the 2023 draft (two spots higher on this list), and thanks to the Thomas trade added probably the best high school lefty as well in Clemmey, whom Cleveland took with the 58th pick out of Bishop Hendricken in Rhode Island. Clemmey is a tall string bean (6’6”, 205) with a high-spin fastball that can reach 99 and all of the extension that his build would suggest. The Guardians started him aggressively in full-season ball last year despite him being three and a half years younger than the average Carolina Leaguer (he turned 19 in mid-July), and the stuff played as advertised. Between Lynchburg and Fredericksburg Clemmey struck out 123 batters in those 92.1 frames against just 67 hits…but he also allowed 63 walks, a total that would have tied for twelfth in the majors last year (in 60% as many innings as any other pitcher on the list). Obviously tightening up his control and command is the first order of business, which starts with cleaning up a funky delivery that Baseball Prospectus likened to “gingerly stepping over a sleeping alligator.” I would imagine that he probably repeats low-A to start the 2025 season, and if he can continue striking guys out at high rates while cutting his walk rate by twenty percent, a birthday promotion to high-A Wilmington is not out of the question.

#4 Jarlin Susana