For anyone who follows TalkNats, the Eli Willits pick was not a surprise for you. As we reported, the 17-year-old high school player was in the Nats’ final-3 going into this weekend, but if you listen to interim-GM Mike DeBartolo, Willits was always their guy. As the days got closer to draft day, the Willits name was gaining steam. We do not know if this would have been the pick if Mike Rizzo was still the GM, but DeBartolo made it clear how much they liked Willits by selecting him at №1 overall.
The rumors had been Ethan Holliday and Kade Anderson among the national evaluators, but Willits made the top of the conversations in our draft discussion very prominently. While this draft group likes to go underslot with their first pick, like last year, expect that money will be used to go upside in the second or third round.
This is the third time in team history that the Nats had the top pick, having previously drafted Stephen Strasburg (2009) and Bryce Harper (2010) in clear favorites, where there was never a question who was going first.
You can feel the new-school approach in this pick with Vice President of Amateur Scouting Danny Haas, Senior Director of Amateur Scouting Brad Ciolek, and Assistant Scouting Director/National Crosschecker Reed Dunn, who were all brought in as new hires after the 2023 season.
“I would say [Willits] was our top guy throughout the process. We had our eye on him throughout. … He was the guy we wanted all along, and we’re really excited that it worked out so well.”
— DeBartolo said
“Danny and our scouting leadership have been working on this for over a year, and they’ve had their eye on Eli for a very long time.”
“They’ve been seeing all the top players, and we started chopping it up this last week to narrow things down, and Eli was the top guy on our boards.”
“It was one of those nice things where the scouts and the analysts see things the exact 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. Everything came together, and it was a really collaborative and great process.”
Willits made the 18U USA Baseball roster as a 16 year old and held his own with a .364 OBP in the eight games he played. He was the star shortstop at Fort Cobb-Broxton High School, where he won six state championships in three years in each of their spring/fall schedules. Willits is said to be a more developed teenage version of Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe.
In this 2025 high school season, Willits hit .473 with 14 doubles, one triple, eight home runs, 34 RBIs, 27 walks, 47 stolen bases and 56 runs scored. He struck out only four times while posting a .602 on-base percentage, .912 slugging percentage and 1.514 OPS in 128 plate appearances.
The youngest player in this year’s draft at 17 years, 216 days old, he is the third-youngest player in history to be drafted first overall, and the youngest since Ken Griffey Jr. in 1987. Willits has MLB bloodlines as the son of former big leaguer, and coach, Reggie Willits. Scouts love Eli’s baseball IQ and they believe he is a true shortstop.
“Very rarely do you get a chance to get what we think is the best hitter in the draft and the best defensive shortstop in the draft. Up the middle offensive and defense value is so rare, and he already has a lot of things going for him in that direction.”
— Haas said
The Nats have a $11,075,900 slot value for this Willits’ pick and will probably go underslot like the past few years to go overslot in Round-2 or Round-3, a strategy DeBartolo alluded to in his introductory press conference last week. With a total pool of $16,597,800 to spend, the Nats will go above that amount to the point where they avoid hitting the draft penalties.
Willits has above average speed, a strong arm, and is a switch-hitter. Once the power comes in as a plus tool, he should show that 5-tool potential. And given his young age, and a player younger than even Harper was when he was drafted 15 years ago, Willits could add more height and will fill out more in his frame. At 6-foot-1, 175-pounds, expect that by the time he reaches the MLB, he will be larger and stronger.
We don’t want to put Harper expectations on Willits to be that quick to the Majors in his second year after his draft year, but maybe late in 2027 or in 2028, that is where you would expect a 1-of-1 position player to be a quick riser. Remember, the Nats team control of CJ Abrams is through the 2028 season. If Abrams does not extend with the Nationals, Willits becomes the heir apparent with top prospects Luke Dickerson and Seaver King in the mix.
Willits has an older brother, Jaxon Willits, 20¾, is a potential Top-100 overall prospect in next year’s draft and is the Oklahoma Sooners’ starting shortstop. By the way, the Associate Head Coach at OU is Reggie Willits. Baseball runs deep in their family.
The Washington Nationals chose outfielder Ethan Petry, a right-handed 6’4, 235 pound, power hitter from the University of South Carolina with their second round pick at №49 overall. A standout in the Cape Cod League and showcases, Petry could be quick to the Majors.
In 2024, Petry was selected by Yarmouth-Dennis of the prestigious Cape Cod League. With a wood bat, he smashed 11 home runs in just 100 at-bats for a 1.240 OPS. He took 16 walks that pushed his OBP to .480 and was the Cape League MVP. Petry was also the champion of the Home Run Contest during the All-Star festivities in Falmouth in 2024.
Petry, 21, hit .321 with 10 doubles, one triple, 10 home runs, 34 RBI, 26 walks and 30 runs scored in just 44 games for South Carolina in 2025 due to an injury. He posted a .437 OBP and a .590 slugging percentage with a 1.027 OPS, while leading his team in home runs and ranking second in RBIs and walks, and he did all of that after sustaining a shoulder injury (sprained AC joint) at Kentucky on April 27 that basically finished his 2025 season.
The big righty was a consensus All-American, an All-SEC First-Team selection, and the Perfect Game National Freshman of the Year in 2023 after he hit .379 with a freshman record 23 home runs and 75 RBI for the South Carolina Gamecocks.
In his sophomore season, Petry smashed 21 home runs in 2024, hitting .306 with eight doubles, a triple, 53 RBI, 51 walks and 57 runs scored. He was named to the All-NCAA Raleigh Regional after he was 3-for-7 with a pair of doubles.
A native of Land O’ Lakes, Florida, he attended Cypress Creek High School. He hit .402 with 80 runs scored, 29 doubles, three triples, 12 home runs and 80 RBI with a 1.211 OPS in his high school career. He was named the Sunshine Athletic Conference Player of the Year in 2022. He was also an accomplished high school pitcher going 5-2 with a 1.97 ERA and 60 strikeouts.
Perfect Game ranked Petry at №31 overall in the 2022 class. He was selected to play in the High School All-American Game at Coors Field in Denver.
With the Washington Nationals third round pick at №80 overall, they selected RHP Landon Harmon. He was ranked 48th overall by MLB Pipeline, and one of the top high school rated pitchers in the country. He is 6’5″ 190 pounds with a fastball that touches 100 on the radar gun.
This pick of Harmon follows the same strategy used in 2023 by the Nationals when they took Travis Sykora with their third round pick (71st overall) and paid him first round money of $2.6 million which was nearly $1.6 million overslot that was set at $1,021,300. This year, the final 1st round slot value is $2,276,700, and the 80th pick has a slot value of $1,010,600.
By the way, Sykora is the Nats’ top prospect as ranked by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline and in the Top-100 of all prospects in baseball.
Harmon, 18, pitched to a 1.09 ERA with 131 strikeouts in 66⅓ innings of work this season. He was named MHSAA’s Class 2A Mr. Baseball for the second year in a row, an All-State first-team selection, and to the 2025 Clarion Ledger’s Dandy Dozen, a collection of Mississippi’s top high school baseball prospects.
Harmon was named an All-American, the №26 overall player and the №2 right-handed pitcher by Perfect Game. He was also named a second-team All-American by Baseball America.
Here is tomorrow’s draft schedule for Round-4 to Round-20.
