3 Nationals Prospects Who Could Become Breakout Stars At Arizona Fall League

These three Washington Nationals prospects could make a name for themselves in the Arizona Fall League.

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The Washington Nationals won't be playing October baseball for the sixth season in a row.

This rebuilding process the organization decided to undertake has backfired, with them looking years away from competing in their own division again, let alone the National League or Major League Baseball as a whole.

The most important thing for the Nationals this winter is making the right hire when it comes to who is going to run their front office going forward after the firing of longtime executive Mike Rizzo. With change comes opportunity, and for many of the prospects heading to the Arizona Fall League this year, that means they could play their way onto the shortlist of minor leaguers who get the call to The Show at some point in the near future.

Here are three players who could become breakout stars for Washington at the AFL.

Seaver King

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The 22-year-old is the highest-ranked prospect the Nationals are sending this year, so this might be a bit of a cop out. However, the 10th overall pick of the 2024 draft hasn't necessarily wowed during his professional career to date, so he'll be looking to turn some heads during the showcase circuit.

Coming out of college, Seaver King was expected to be a player who could hit the ground running on offense, using his hitting ability and speed to create a high batting average for himself. But in 125 games across the High-A and Double-A levels this season, he slashed just .244/.294/.337 with six homers and 43 RBIs.

At the age of 22, the ceiling is still there for him to turn into an impact player at some point. And with a good showing in the Arizona Fall League, the new regime is going to feel a whole lot better about his trajectory.

Jake Bennett

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The Nationals need impact starting pitchers, and that's what they envisioned when they selected Jake Bennett in the second round of the 2022 draft. He got off to a good start in 2023 with a 1.93 ERA across nine starts at Single-A to earn himself a promotion to High-A. But he struggled at that level before having to undergo Tommy John surgery after six outings.

This caused Bennett to miss all of 2024. But when he returned to the mound this year, he reminded everyone of his talent with an impressive 2.27 ERA that included an ERA of 2.56 across 10 outings (nine starts) with Double-A Harrisburg.

If he performs well in the Arizona Fall League, it will not be surprising to see the left-hander make his MLB debut at some point next season.

Pablo Aldonis

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This is an under-the-radar prospect for Washington. He's not ranked in their top 30 and is coming off some sort of long-term injury that kept him out for the entire 2024 campaign. But he is someone who could burst onto the scene with a good showing in the AFL.

After making his way back to the mound this season, the 23-year-old left-hander has been downright dominant, owning a 1.64 ERA across 41 appearances (one start) with 64 strikeouts and just 10 walks in 55 innings pitched.

His performance at the Single-A level was ridiculous with only one run allowed in 15 games and 26 innings pitched. He struck out 33 batters and had a WHIP of 0.77. That earned him a promotion to High-A, where he finished with a 2.05 ERA across 10 appearances and 22 innings.

If Pablo Aldonis is able to stifle some of the best prospects in the sport during the Arizona Fall League, he is going to be a fast riser in the Nationals' pipeline and will become someone to keep an eye on going forward.