Nationals’ Chris Hacopian path to the pros began in his dad’s training facility in Gaithersburg

Texas A&M knew instantly it wanted to go after Chris Hacopian once he entered the transfer portal after his sophomore season at Maryland in 2025.

“Immediately,” assistant coach Cliff Pennington told The Banner.

The Aggies coaches saw what many teams did: a player with strong bat-to-ball skills and control of the strike zone who was continuing to hit the ball harder. But in the courting process the Aggies didn’t butter Hacopian up with an elaborate video akin to a glorified highlight tape.

Texas A&M instead sat him down in mid-June 2025 and showed him his flaws. His warts. His weaknesses. Many productive players would wilt upon seeing a compilation tape of the 18 errors they committed, but Hacopian perked up at the thought of a team equipped to level up his game. The Aggies saw ways to refine Hacopian’s footwork and how he approached balls hit toward him.

That want-to, that enthusiasm to improve, is what separated Hacopian in college and what drew the Nationals to select the Montgomery County native with the No. 11 pick in the 2026 draft. Good swing decisions, loud contact and being able to do damage on pitches are organizational hallmarks that the Nationals believe portend into a consistent offensive player.

“Coach Pennington was like, ‘This is how we’re gonna get better,’” Hacopian said on draft day. “When he did that, that fired me up so much. I was so ready to work with him compared to the other college programs — like, they didn’t do that."

Washington took a similar approach when it met with him during the predraft process, offering an outline of what he needed to work on to go from good to great.

“When they did that, I had a little déjà vu from Texas A&M, and I was like, Oh my gosh, I would love if I had the opportunity to work with this organization,“ he said.

Hacopian will have that chance. That insatiable desire to improve will mesh well with a front office that aims to maximize the elements of the game a player does best.

But Hacopian’s studious nature didn’t begin when he enrolled at Maryland. It started when he was in middle school training at The Baseball Zone, a facility in Gaithersburg owned by his father, Derek, a former All-America outfielder for the Terps.

With unfettered access, Hacopian dedicated himself to improving. Whether it was hitting high velocity or fine-tuning his swing or going through live batting practices, he spent ample time in his father’s facility with his goals on his mind. He didn’t rest on his natural aptitude.

“He’s been training to be a pro since middle school, honestly,” said Pat Skellchock, Hacopian’s coach at Winston Churchill High School in Potomac. “There’s not many kids I know that will go most days of the week, sometimes all days of the week, up to a facility and work on their craft. Kids usually want to go hang out with their friends. But I think what he did that was pretty creative was he just got his friend group to want to do the same thing, so they started training together.”

Skellchock said he usually puts freshmen on junior varsity, but not Hacopian. He saw not only a clear varsity player but a starter. Between his freshman and sophomore seasons, Hacopian took his dedication to hitting and applied it to the weight room.

He started working with a strength coach, and the results showed immediately. Skellchock said Hacopian “looked like a man.” The physical growth coincided with another jump on the diamond as Hacopian became the 2021-22 Maryland Gatorade Player of the Year. The strength allowed him to do damage against good pitches, and his years of facing plus velocity improved his timing. Pairing his baseball intelligence with his natural aptitude made for a standout prospect.

But what made Hacopian different is that he was never satisfied, no matter how many accolades he won.

“He has the work ethic of a professional, and he’s had it for a long time,” Skellchock said. “That’s been very evident, and you can ask anybody that. They’ll all tell you the same thing. But I’ve never seen the guy get frazzled. I’ve never seen him get nervous.

“I’ve seen guys that were good on other teams but they had an attitude or something was flawed about them. Chris didn’t have any of that. He just wanted to work. He was never satisfied. He would never say, ‘I’m good enough already.’ Like he always wanted to strive for better.”

That mentality stood out to the Nationals, along with his strong foundation. He had an advanced feel for the strike zone, made good swing decisions and hit the ball hard. With such a strong foundation, the Nationals They felt comfortable selecting Hacopian with the intent to help him improve his ability to pull the ball in the air.

There’s also the matter of where Hacopian plays. He played third base as a freshman at Maryland before shifting to shortstop as a sophomore. After transferring to Texas A&M — where he wanted to face better pitching in the SEC — he was prepared to play shortstop again before lower back issues and a leg injury that limited his ability to run forced him to move to second base.

Moving him off the premium position could’ve disrupted the team, but Pennington said Hacopian didn’t pout about the change. Instead, Pennington recalled, he responded by asking, “How do I get better at second base?”

Hacopian is a philomath, and that self-starter mentality bodes well with the Nationals’ new regime has emphasized teaching and communication with players.

His best bet long term is to stay there because of his limited range, though a shift to left field isn’t out of the realm of possibility. But Hacopian, as proven throughout his career, embraces challenges.

“You’re always trying to find out what’s deeper and what’s under the hood for each kid, and when you get one like Chris, it’s just a recipe for success with the unbelievable talent,” Pennington said, “but then also the work ethic and the drive to be the best.”