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]
Ethan Holiday said, “Rockies organization, I am just very grateful.” “Obviously, the family and background and my father are draft being drafted by him, which simply adds such a good thing. And I was born since I was born since knowing everyone in the organization.”
More high-grade players with St. Louis Cardinals selected Tennessy Left-Hander Liam Doial at number 5, followed by Corona (California) High School from the right-handed Seth Hernandez’s Pittsburg Pirates.
Jojo Parker, Purwis (Mississippi) was the number 8 pick by a shortstop Toronto Bailey Jas from High School. Another high school was number 9 by Shortstop, Steel Hall from Hewit Trusville (Alabama), Cincinnati Reds.
With number 10 pick, Chicago White Sax selected Billy Carlson in the first 10 pics of the sixth shortstop and Corona High School. In the 2024 MLB draft, only 10 shortstops were taken in the top 30 pics.
Texas, San Francisco, Tampa Bay and Minnesota also took shortstops before Texas’s high school Kesan Cunningham, a total pick of 18 number, Erizona became a total pick, 11th shortstop draft.
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred was congratulated by fans by fans in a draft held at Rocky Theater in a battery adjacent to Brevs Trust Park, two days before MLB’s all-star game. Manfred noted that Braves chose Famer Chipper Jones’s last hall with number 1 and said the draft “is a team for a team to choose a franchise like Braves made in 1990.”
The first three rounds were set for Sunday night, following the remaining draft on Monday.
Reporting by Associated Press.
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