Nate Eaton #40

Nate resides in Chester, Va... Played for Licey in the Dominican Winter League during the 2023-24 offseason... In 2018 at the Virginia Military Institute, he slashed .287/.402/.507 (60-for-209) with 25 extra-base hits and a Southern Conference-best 36 steals in 52 games... He made 28 pitching appearances at VMI, including 17 outings in 2018, when he held opponents to a .212 average and recorded 28 strikeouts in 24.1 innings. .. He played in all 56 games at VMI in 2016, matching a school record... Graduated from Thomas Dale HS (Va.) in 2015, where he was named to the 6A All-Region Second Team as a senior... According to a story by MLB.com’s Anne Rogers, In 2015, Eaton and Vinnie Pasquantino were opponents in the Richmond, Va. area…Eaton, who was a pitcher at the time, retired Pasquantino four times with a strikeout in the final game of the season, dropping Pasquantino’s season average less than .600.

2023

Eaton appeared in just 28 games over four stints with the Royals in his second season, spending the remainder of the year with Triple-A Omaha... He was named to his first career Opening Day roster, but was optioned to Triple-A on April 24... he made three other stints with the big league club from May 5-25, June 9-16 and June 23-26...he made appearances at five different positions with Kansas City, including one game at third base, 13 games (seven starts) in left field, six games (five starts) in center field, four games (three starts) in right field and one pitching appearance... Made the first pitching appearance of his Major League career on April 10 in Texas, in which he tossed a scoreless eighth and reached up to 94.9 mph on his fastball. 

2022

Eaton homered in his Major League debut on July 14, 2022 in Toronto, becoming the fourth player in Royals history to homer in his debut, following Clint Hurdle, Mark Quinn and Ryan O’Hearn... Led the Majors with a 98.1 mph arm strength, which according to Statcast, averages the top 10% of throws for an outfielder (min. 50 throws to qualify), the top 5% of throws for a second baseman/shortstop/ third baseman (min. 75 throws) and top 1% for a first baseman (min. 100 throws)... Appeared in 44 games across three big league stints, including July 14-17, Aug. 4-22 and Sept. 1 through season’s end…in 24 games from Sept. 3 through season’s end, he slashed .323/.386/.435 (20-for-62) and raised his average 82 points, from .182 to .264. .. Eaton recorded a team-best nine stolen bases in September/October, which ranked tied for the fourth most in the Majors over that span…he stole a base in five consecutive games from Sept. 16-21, which fell just one game shy of matching the club record of six games, set by U.L. Washington in 1983 and matched by Tom Goodwin in 1995... On Sept. 3 in Detroit, he had a career-best four hits, becoming the eighth Royal in club history to record a four-hit effort within his first 21 career games, joining a list that includes Eric Hosmer (2011), Brian McRae (1990), Bo Jackson (1986) and Lou Piniella (1969), among others... In 91 games between Double-A and Triple-A, he slashed .285/.358/.465 with a career-best 13 HR and 51 RBI, including a season-best 10-game hit streak from June 8-19, and was named an MiLB.com Organization All-Star.

2021

Named an Arizona Fall League Rising Star in 2021, and hit .317 (26-for-82) with 17 runs, eight extra-base hits, 13 RBI and four steals in 20 games with Surprise.