The Nationals have taken high school shortstop Eli Willits as the first overall selection of the 2025 draft. The 17-year-old Willits (a product of Fort Cobb-Broxton High School in Oklahoma) is the youngest first overall pick in draft history. Washington had the first pick for the third time in franchise history, and Willits will have a tough act to follow since the Nats’ previous two 1-1 selections were Stephen Strasburg in 2009, and Bryce Harper in 2010.
There wasn’t a clear consensus among draft pundits this year, so several potential names were floated for the Nationals in the top spot. Another unexpected wrinkle emerged just a week ago when the Nats fired longtime president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo (as well as manager Dave Martinez), and assistant GM Mike DeBartolo was suddenly in charge of the front office after being elevated to the interim general manager position. DeBartolo told MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman and other reporters that Willits was “the guy we wanted all along,” so it doesn’t appear that the sudden management change impacted the Nationals’ plans.
It is certainly possible that the pick was made with an eye towards the Nats’ overall draft pool, as Willits could be more apt to sign for less than the $11,075,900 slot price for the first overall selection. A below-slot deal for Willits would free up space within Washington’s overall bonus pool ($16,597,800) for the Nationals to spread that money around on other selections, perhaps to entice some future picks later in the draft to sign rather than pursue college ball.
While Willits was a slight surprise at 1-1, the shortstop (the son of former Angels outfielder Reggie Willits) was still a highly-regarded prospect. Baseball America and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel each rated Willits as the third-best member of this year’s draft class, Fangraphs and MLB Pipeline each ranked him fifth, and The Athletic’s Keith Law had Willits eighth in his rankings.
Evaluators feel Willits has a pretty high floor as a solid all-around talent, with his excellent speed standing out as perhaps his top tool. Willits is viewed as having the defensive potential to stick at shortstop, and he has a plus throwing arm and good range for the position. A switch-hitter, Willits is already a strong contact hitter with a good approach at the plate. Perhaps the largest question is how much power Willits will be able to generate against Major League pitching, but McDaniel and BA believe he can reach the 15-homer range.
Willits doesn’t have the hype or superstar ceiling of Strasburg or Harper, yet the 17-year-old now fills a similar role as one of the faces of a new era of Nationals baseball. The Nats haven’t had a winning season since capturing the 2019 World Series, and the firings of Rizzo and Martinez indicate how ownership isn’t pleased with the state of what has become a fairly lengthy rebuild. Washington had the sixth-worst record (71-91) in baseball in 2024 but held the fourth-best odds heading into last December’s draft lottery, as the White Sox and A’s were both ineligible to draft within the top six.
Wow!
This class must really suck
Deep analysis here.
Worthy of # 1. One of 3 or 5 at worst best players in draft
Son of Reggie Willits. Hopefully Eli turns out to be a better hitter than his dad
0.1 career bWAR. Eli is going for 0.2.
Interesting stat: Reggie has parts of six MLB seasons and over 1000 PA with 0 HR! How is that possible?
Zero power and he played in the days before launch angle for hitters and max effort for pitchers was a thing. It was more possible back in the day when a guy like Rafael Belliard went a decade between Home Runs
How many hr would you hit in 1000 mlb pa?
PoisonedPens is the burner account of Barry Bonds. So he’d hit a few.
Gotta believe I’d hit several if I made it to 1000 PA, Darren Dreifort had 6 HR in 265 PA and he was a pitcher. Heck, even CC Sabathia had 3….
I wonder if that was Rizzo’s plan?
Big shocker. Hopefully it works out.
17 seems kind of young to me, but if they feel he’s ready, then so be it!
for what it’s worth, Lindor and Correa were both 17 when they were drafted
Ready for high A ball? I’m sure he’ll he just fine.
Bob Feller debuted for Cleveland at 17. He turned out okay, I guess
I like that one summer morning the Angels decided they would only draft college players who are MLB-ready from here on out.
That’s the trend these days for most clubs. Apparently this years draft class is really bad. And so you see HS flyers b/c the rest suck. As mentioned, Nats most likely Willits to save money because no player was worthy of 1.1
For some clubs, definitely. Not coincidentally, the clubs are bottom tier teams have major holes at the MLB and are looking to get guys up to the big league level faster.
What did Kersh say on national TV about the college stats a few weeks back? He summed it up well.
I thought the A’s got a gift that Arnold dropped to them. Just an old catcher’s opinion.
A mediocre pick for a mediocre team in a mediocre sport – in the NBA, NFL and NHL the first overall pick often is thought to have a chance to be an all star or even a hall of famer and in the MLB they are hopeful he will develop into a replacement level player – I would rather have a pitcher who can throw 100 mph or a hitter who can hit home runs – if he was an on base machine maybe makes sense but the damning with faint praise evaluation said: “Though he has some raw power, he likely would top out at 15 homers a year in the bigs. As a member of the 18U Team USA squad in 2024, Willits produced a .345 on-base percentage with four RBIs in eight games played.” Maybe some one on the Nationals should learn how WAR is calculated
Maybe you should learn how different the MLB draft is and how prospect development is different compared to the other league’s drafts.
MLB is all about player control rather than the pursuit of excellence – each team has over 100 players and are lucky to produce 2 to 4 MLB players a year – mediocre development processes are ok because MLB advocates a profitability model where a third of the league actively works to not field competitive teams.
WAR calculations? For a 17-year-old?
Derek Jeter says hi.
Derek Jeter was identified as the second best high school player ever behind A – Rod at the time he was drafted – not the case here
I think they should have gone with Anderson but at least they didn’t draft holliday. I hope they get something with the other picks.
Anderson or one the 100 mph arms – drafts are all about high rewards at the top of the draft
You must know that 8 games are not a good sample size.
The NBA is a joke
Perhaps but their franchise values have tripled while MLB teams languish on the market
Tripled in value and still not as valuable as MLB teams.
With this mindset, please, we beg you, do not get into casino gambling
I am not a casino guy but understanding the calculation of winning should be part of the draft process – three true outcomes lead to runs and run prevention
And that thinking is how MLB got saddled with the likes of Joey Gallo
Gawd, I HATE Joey Gallo.
Every draft pick has a WAR of 0
I’m old enough to remember reading 2007 trade rumors between the Marlins and Angels for Miguel Cabrera… the top prospect being shopped to the Marlins was Reggie Willits… Eli’s dad….. I read those rumors here on MLB TR lol
Eli was just being formed at the time.
Nats will likely relocate before he arrives.
Quite a few of them will for sure
Interesting picking a glove first SS with the 1-1 pick. Don’t think that has ever been done in my memory. Willits may hit for average, but he will never hit for power. As all the reports say, he will top out in the 10-15 range. So not a 5 or 6 WAR peak as a player. If he works out you are looking at 3-4 WAR peak. Other than saving a lot of money, I don’t understand this pick any more than I do the Angels pick.
underslot at 1 so they can overslot at 3
Tony Fernandez was a 3.5 a year WAR SS. Great defense and a OBP guy. He was pretty good.
He’s the third youngest 1st overall pick ever. “ According to the Elias Sports Bureau, at 17 years, 216 days old, Willits was the third-youngest 1-1 ever taken, behind Tim Foli in 1968 (17 years, 180 days) and some guy named Ken Griffey Jr. in 1987 (17 years, 193 days).”
From MLB^
Those drafts were held earlier in the year. Willits’s birthday is December 9. Foli’s is December 6 and Griffey’s is November 21.
It’s funny how when you sit on the sidelines how informed you become. Yeesh.
Must be scary to be tuna42
There was no clear slam dunk number 1 this year. It could have been up to possibly 5 different guys at number 1. I believe Willits is a great pick. He will be a solid defender that will stay at short long term. Switch hitter that makes contact. Decent speed. He could be a Tony Fernandez type.
Holliday will not stay at short and probably play third. He will have to be a top hitter to stay there. He has power and he will be a solid defender at third. Maybe a Kyle Seager comp.
Kade Anderson is a left handed pitcher that should do well. He’s already had TJ surgery, so some red flags. A good fastball slider mix with a good change and curve. 4 pitches from a lefty is really good. He’s on the small side, so I’m thinking Tom Glavine. Glavine had multiple pitches he had command of.
Seth Hernandez, Liam Doyle and Jamie Arnold could have gone number 1 also.
I believe in the past year, mock drafts had Holliday, Anderson, Doyle, Arnold and Jace LaViolette ranked as number 1. I checked last year right after the draft at who would be number 1 in 2025 and it said LaViolette.
FYI… Jacob Lombard is projected to go number 1 in 2026. High school SS from Florida. That will change.
They thank God before thanking their parents… their parents are probably very proud of that. Seems kind of funny you are offended by it.
The irony of someone on a baseball forum bemoaning a ball players faith over their ability to play baseball while claiming the player’s priorities are on the wrong thing isn’t lost on me
I remember Tim McCarver saying a pitch from glavine was on the outside corner. Slow motion showed almost a foot outside. Glavine was overrated. Won 20 games multiple times because the braves won close to 100 games many years.
I’m eager to get your thoughts on how that relates to the number one pick in the 2025 draft.
I just want to know how the TIGERS draft looks like in 5 years.
So the experts had this kid at 3d, 5th or 8th, and the Nats, with Rizzo gone, draft him at #1. Sounds about right.