The Washington Nationals chosen Oklahoma highschool shortstop Eli Willits on Sunday night time with the No. 1 choose in Main League Baseball’s newbie draft in a variety seen by some as a shock.
The 17-year-old Willits is the youngest participant taken at No. 1 total since Ken Griffey Jr. with Seattle in 1987. He is the son of ex-big leaguer Reggie Willits, who performed six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels and likewise coached with the New York Yankees.
The Willits choose kicked off a document whole of 11 shortstops chosen among the many first 18 picks. In line with Baseball America, the earlier document whole of shortstops taken among the many prime 30 picks was 10 in 2021 and 2023.
Willits, from Fort Cobb-Broxton Excessive College, is a switch-hitter who is predicted to develop an influence swing.
“I really feel like I’ve good hitability, and I’m going to take that to the subsequent degree,” Willits mentioned when requested about his strengths. “And I really feel like my energy is up and coming, however I wanted to get into a corporation just like the Nationals that may assist develop that and take that to the subsequent degree.
The draft got here one week after the Nationals fired longtime normal supervisor Mike Rizzo and supervisor Dave Martinez. The timing of the strikes added extra uncertainty to a draft that is perhaps probably the most unpredictable lately, together with the selection of the No. 1 choose.
Nationals interim normal supervisor Mike DeBartolo mentioned Willits was the staff’s No. 1 selection as a result of he was considered as “the perfect hitter within the draft and finest fielder within the draft” whereas additionally boasting a uncommon “make-up and intangibles” for a 17-year-old participant.
“It made this very simple for us,” DeBartolo mentioned.
Added Nationals vice-president for newbie scouting Danny Haas: “He makes the routine performs about as simple as anyone you’ll be able to see, a lot much less a 17-year-old.”
Willits will doubtless get a signing bonus beneath the $11.08 million worth assigned to the primary total choose, permitting Washington to redistribute these financial savings to later choices.
The Angels added one other shock with the No. 2 choose by choosing UC-Santa Barbara right-hander Tyler Bremner. Seattle adopted by taking LSU lefty Kade Anderson.
Colorado picked shortstop Ethan Holliday at No. 4, touchdown the son of longtime Rockies star Matt Holliday. Ethan, from Stillwater, Oklahoma, was a candidate to go first total, identical to brother Jackson Holliday with did with Baltimore in 2022. They’d have been the primary brothers to be drafted with the primary total choose.
(MORE: Nationals Choose First in 2025 MLB Draft; How Final 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 figuring out everyone within the group since I used to be born, I’m tremendous grateful.”
Extra extremely rated gamers adopted with the St. Louis Cardinals choosing Tennessee left-hander Liam Doyle at No. 5, adopted by the Pittsburgh Pirates’s selection of right-hander Seth Hernandez from Corona (California) Excessive College.
JoJo Parker, a shortstop from Purvis (Mississippi) Excessive College was the No. 8 choose 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 choose, the Chicago White Sox made Billy Carlson the sixth shortstop and the second participant from Corona Excessive College chosen within the first 10 picks. Within the 2024 MLB Draft, solely 10 shortstops had been taken within the prime 30 picks.
Texas, San Francisco, Tampa Bay and Minnesota additionally took shortstops earlier than Texas excessive schooler Kayson Cunningham, the No. 18 total choose 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 Sport. Manfred famous the Braves selected eventual Corridor of Famer Chipper Jones with the No. 1 total choose and mentioned this draft is “an opportunity for a staff to make a franchise-altering choice just like the Braves made in 1990.”
The primary three rounds had been scheduled for Sunday night time, with the rest of the draft to comply with on Monday.
Reporting by The Related Press.
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