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 Rockies group, I’m simply so grateful,” Ethan Holliday mentioned. “Clearly, with the household and the background and my dad being drafted by them, that simply provides such a cool factor. And realizing all people within the group since I used to be born, I’m tremendous grateful.”
Extra extremely rated gamers adopted with the St. Louis Cardinals deciding on Tennessee left-hander Liam Doyle at No. 5, adopted by the Pittsburgh Pirates‘s alternative of right-hander Seth Hernandez from Corona (California) Excessive Faculty.
JoJo Parker, a shortstop from Purvis (Mississippi) Excessive Faculty was the No. 8 decide by the Toronto Blye Jays. One other highschool shortstop, Steele Corridor from Hewitt Trussville (Alabama), was No. 9 by the Cincinnati Reds.
With the No. 10 decide, the Chicago White Sox made Billy Carlson the sixth shortstop and the second participant from Corona Excessive Faculty chosen within the first 10 picks. Within the 2024 MLB Draft, solely 10 shortstops had been taken within the high 30 picks.
Texas, San Francisco, Tampa Bay and Minnesota additionally took shortstops earlier than Texas excessive schooler Kayson Cunningham, the No. 18 general decide by Arizona, grew to become the eleventh shortstop drafted.
Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred was greeted with boos by followers on the draft held on the Roxy Theater at The Battery, adjoining to the Braves’ Truist Park, two days earlier than MLB’s All-Star Recreation. Manfred famous the Braves selected eventual Corridor of Famer Chipper Jones with the No. 1 general decide and mentioned this draft is “an opportunity for a crew to make a franchise-altering choice just like the Braves made in 1990.”
The primary three rounds had been scheduled for Sunday evening, with the rest of the draft to comply with on Monday.
Reporting by The Related Press.
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