The Washington Nationals selected Oklahoma high school shortstop Eli Willits on Sunday night with the No. 1 pick in Major League Baseball’s amateur draft in a selection seen by some as a surprise.
The 17-year-old Willits is the youngest player taken at No. 1 overall since Ken Griffey Jr. with Seattle in 1987. He’s the son of ex-big leaguer Reggie Willits, who played six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels and also coached with the New York Yankees.
The Willits pick kicked off a record total of 11 shortstops selected among the first 18 picks. According to Baseball America, the previous record total of shortstops taken among the top 30 picks was 10 in 2021 and 2023.
Willits, from Fort Cobb-Broxton High School, is a switch-hitter who is expected to develop a power swing.
“I feel like I have good hitability, and I’m going to take that to the next level,” Willits said when asked about his strengths. “And I feel like my power is up and coming, but I needed to get into an organization like the Nationals that can help develop that and take that to the next level.
The draft came one week after the Nationals fired longtime general manager Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez. The timing of the moves added more uncertainty to a draft that might be one of the most unpredictable in recent years, including the choice of the No. 1 pick.
Nationals interim general manager Mike DeBartolo said Willits was the team’s No. 1 choice because he was viewed as “the best hitter in the draft and best fielder in the draft” while also boasting a rare “makeup and intangibles” for a 17-year-old player.
“It made this very easy for us,” DeBartolo said.
Added Nationals vice-president for amateur scouting Danny Haas: “He makes the routine plays about as easy as anybody you can see, much less a 17-year-old.”
Willits will likely get a signing bonus below the $11.08 million value assigned to the first overall pick, allowing Washington to redistribute those savings to later selections.
The Angels added another surprise with the No. 2 pick by selecting UC-Santa Barbara right-hander Tyler Bremner. Seattle followed by taking LSU lefty Kade Anderson.
Colorado picked shortstop Ethan Holliday at No. 4, landing the son of longtime Rockies star Matt Holliday. Ethan, from Stillwater, Oklahoma, was a candidate to go first overall, just like brother Jackson Holliday with did with Baltimore in 2022. They would have been the first brothers to be drafted with the first overall pick.
[MORE: Nationals Select First in 2025 MLB Draft; How Last 10 No. 1 Picks Have Fared]
“The organization of the rockies, I am very grateful,” said Ethan Holliday. “Obviously, with the family and the background and my father being recruited by them, that only adds such a great thing. And knowing everyone in the organization since I was born, I am very grateful.”
The most qualified players continued with the Cardinals of San Luis by selecting the left -handed Tennessee Liamle in number 5, followed by the choice of Pittsburgh Pirates on the right Seth Hernández de Corona (California) High School.
Jojo Parker, a Purvis High School Campocorto (Mississippi) was the number 8 of the Toronto Blyy Jays. Another high school campocorto, Steele Hall by Hewitt Tressville (Alabama), was no. 9 for the reds of Cincinnati.
With the no. 10 picks, the Chicago White Sox made Billy Carlson into the sixth campocorto and the second Crown player High School selected in the first 10 teams. In the 2024 MLB draft, only 10 peasants were tasks in the 30 best selections.
Texas, San Francisco, Tampa Bay and Minnesota also play the campocorts before Texas High Schooler Kayson Cunningham, the general selection number 18 of Arizona, became the 11th recruited campocort.
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred was received angry by fans at the draft held at the Roxy Theater on drums, adjacent to the Los Bravos Park, two days before the MLB All-Star game. Manfred said that the Braves chose any chipper Jones of the Hall of Fame with the general selection number 1 and said that this draft is “an opportunity for a team to make a selection that alters the franchise as the braves made in 1990”.
The first three rounds were scheduled for Sunday night, with the Draft reminder to follow on Monday.
Associated Press reports.
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