ATLANTA (AP) — 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 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.
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 longtime general manager Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez. The 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 Los Angeles 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.
The Colorado Rockies 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 highly rated players followed with St. Louis selecting Tennessee left-hander Liam Doyle at No. 5, followed by Pittsburgh’s choice of right-hander Seth Hernandez from Corona (California) High School.
Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred was greeted with boos by fans at the draft held at the Roxy Theater at The Battery, adjacent to the Braves’ Truist Park two days before MLB’s All-Star Game. Manfred noted the Braves chose eventual Hall of Famer Chipper Jones with the No. 1 overall pick and said this draft is “a chance for a team to make a franchise-altering selection like the Braves made in 1990.”
The first three rounds were scheduled for Sunday night, with the remainder of the draft to follow on Monday.
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