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High school shortstop Eli Willits became the latest teenager to take a big step in making his professional baseball dreams come true.
The Washington Nationals selected Willits with the No. 1 overall pick of the MLB amateur draft on Sunday night.
At 17 years old, he’s the youngest player taken No. 1 since Ken Griffey Jr. in 1987 with the Seattle Mariners.
He’s the son of ex-major leaguer Reggie Willits, who played for the Los Angeles Angels and was a coach with the New York Yankees.
Willits played baseball at Fort Cobb-Broxton High School in Oklahoma. He’s a switch-hitting shortstop who is expected to put more power into his swing as he develops.
“I feel like I have good hitability, and I’m going to take that to the next level,” Willits said 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.”
Willits is 17 years and 216 days old. Griffey was 17 and 193 days old when the Mariners chose him No. 1. Tim Foli, who was the top pick in 1968, was the youngest at 17 years, 180 days old, according to MLB.com.
The Nationals’ selection came a week after the organization fired manager Dave Martinez and general manager Mike Rizzo.
But Nationals interim general manager Mike DeBartolo maintained that Willits was the top guy on the board.
“It’s one of those nice things where the scouts and the analysts see things exactly the same way and saw him as the best hitter in the draft, the best fielder in the draft with just great makeup, great work ethic and all the intangibles,” DeBartolo said, via MLB.com.
Willits hit .473 with an OPS of .912 in his final year in high school.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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