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.
The Willits pick kicked off a record total of 17 shortstops out of 32 first-round picks. According to Baseball America, the previous record total of shortstops taken among the top 30 picks was 10 in 2021 and 2023.
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 Nationals fired longtime general manager Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez. The timing of the moves 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.
Colorado shared an image on social media of a young Ethan Holliday wielding a purple bat at Coors Field while sucking on a pacifier.
“The Rockies organization, I’m just so thankful,” Ethan Holliday said. “Obviously with the family and the background and my dad being drafted by them, that just adds such a cool thing. And knowing everybody in the organization since I was born, I’m super thankful.”
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.
JoJo Parker, a shortstop from Purvis (Mississippi) High School was the No. 8 pick by Toronto. Another high school shortstop, Steele Hall from Hewitt Trussville (Alabama), was No. 9 by Cincinnati.
With the No. 10 pick, the Chicago White sox made Billy Carlson the sixth shortstop and the second player from Corona High School selected in the first 10 picks. In the 2024 draft, only 10 shortstops were taken in the top 30 picks.
A third Corona High School player, shortstop Brady Ebel, was the No. 32 pick in the first round by Milwaukee.
There were only two catchers selected in the first round, and both landed with Baltimore. The Orioles picked Ike Irish from Auburn at No. 19 and Caden Bodine from Coastal Carolina at No. 30.
Texas, San Francisco, Tampa Bay and Minnesota also took shortstops before Texas high schooler Kayson Cunningham, the No. 18 overall pick by Arizona, became the 11th shortstop drafted.
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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