Nationals have agreed to sign Eli Willitsthis is the first overall draft pick in the 2025 draft. The high school shortstop announced yesterday (in an interview with Wolf Blitzer by CNN) that he plans to formally sign his first career contract today, and Nats does have a press conference to commemorate the event. Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline reported Willits will receive an 8.2mm bonus, the highest ever award for a high school draft pick. However, Willits’ bonus is much lower than the 11,075,900 slot values allocated to 1-1 selections.
Washington decided to raise some eyebrows on draft night, and it seemed he was willing to include a lower deal into the Nationals program. The Naths can now save $2.876mm of less than 2.876mm and can now redistribute some of the funds to other members of their draft class. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported that the New York Post reported Miguel Sime Jr.dedicated to LSU. Sime will now start his career after getting $2mm from the Nationals – Sime’s draft ranking of $687,800 in $11th.
Several teams adopted this strategy in the pool era draft, choosing to spread their available funds to multiple highly touted players rather than bringing most of the draft pool towards their best choice. Willits will still end up with less than half of the total pool of less than $16,597,800 in Washington, and the 8.2mm figure seems to have purpose, as Willits can at least claim to get the largest draft payday for any high school student.
This is not to say that the national must have achieved it by selecting wills, and even if he was not on the board of any of the most famous experts, he was still well-rated. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel and America ranked third on Willits and third in the pre-draft rankings, with MLB Pipeline and Fangraphs holding fifth respectively, while sports’s Keith Keith has eighth on Willits.
Wilt is considered a relatively safe, high floor type pick, as assessors agree Willett looks like a major league, even if he can be used as a regular softer rather than the type of star that is usually associated with a 1-1 choice. That said, given his contact skills and mature approach, especially if he can add more power, there are still many notable issues for Willits’ upside. Willits has many other tools, including speed-up, plus a plus-point arm and good defensive range, which should make him a solid shortstop.
