Nationals Select Eli Willits With First Pick Of 2025 Amateur Draft

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.

More to come…


Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *