In July, the Nationals made a bold move by making 17-year-old Eli Willits the youngest first overall pick of all time. Willits has not yet turned 18, his birthday is on December 9. However, the type of game Willits plays is very mature. That means he can move faster than most high school students.
Willits has stated that one of his goals is to be in the MLB by age 20. That would be a dream for most players, but not Willits. As a 17-year-old, he came straight from high school hit .300 in Low-A. With that kind of production behind him, he hopes to become a big league player sometime in 2028, which would be his 20th season.
What stands out most about Willits’ game is how polished he is on both sides of the ball. He is such a smooth operator at shortstop and expects to be a strong defender there. Willits is a good athlete and has a strong arm for his age. He has the ability to use a number of different arm angles, which is very valuable at shortstop.
Eli Willits’ paint should come as no surprise. His father is former big leaguer Reggie Willits, who had a successful career playing the game the right way. Reggie Willits had to be fundamentally perfect because he had no power and his tools were limited. Eli has much better tools than his father, but still plays the game with such great fundamentals. His brother Jaxon is also the starting shortstop at Oklahoma, where Reggie Willits is an assistant coach.
It’s all ball all the time for the Willits family. That gives me confidence that Eli will tap into every last drop of talent he has. He has already worked hard this season. One thing Willits had to do was get stronger. His exit velocities were very slow, which is not surprising given his age. However, he has been in the weight room a lot this season.
Hopefully that extra strength will result in more power. That is the only instrument that Willits is missing at the moment. If he can even become a 15 homer guy, Willits has a very clear path to one day becoming a 5 WAR player in the major leagues. He is an above-average defender at shortstop and also a great baserunner.
Offensively, Willits is a smooth-swinging switch hitter. He possesses elite bat-to-ball skills and strong plate discipline. The combination of bat-to-ball skills and plate discipline can be quite rare. Many players who are good at making contact fall into the trap of swinging everywhere just because they can hit those fields. Willits can hit those pitches, but instead decides to be selective.
How quickly can Nationals fans expect Willits to move? Given his age, we won’t see him in the MLB anytime soon, but he should be moving pretty steadily. He performed well in Low-A and will likely start there again next season. However, if he gets off to a quick start, a promotion to High-A could happen quickly.
However, this is not only due to performance. The Nats currently have a lot of middle infielders at the lower levels. Coy James, Luke Dickerson, Angel Feliz, Ronny Cruz, Marconi German and Brayan Cortesia will all have to play, but there will be a logjam.
A lot of those guys should be in Low-A, but not all of them can be because there isn’t enough room. If Willits is super impressive in Spring Training, there’s a chance he could start the season at High-A. In my opinion, Willits should spend most of the season at High-A. It’s a good way to get him started in pro ball.
While Wilmington is known as a pitcher-friendly environment, it shouldn’t matter as much to Willits as it does to others. He’s not a player who relies on home runs and his bat-to-ball skills should translate everywhere. Due to his lack of current physicality, a move to Double-A should not be an option unless he actually leaves.
However, Willits should be in Double-A by 2027 and could even reach Triple-A by the end of that season. This timeline would put him on track to be a major-league player by the time he is 20 years old, just as he wants. Of course, Willits has to perform to make this timeline work, but I have faith in him.
As long as he continues to gain strength, the rest of his game will be super well-rounded. In the past, the Nats have brought many athletes who needed to improve at baseball. Willits isn’t like that at all. His baseball skills are elite, he just needs to get stronger. I’m excited to follow his journey as I believe he will be the next great Nats prospect.
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