Eli Willits has made his primary goal crystal clear ever since he joined the Nationals organization. He wants to be a big leaguer by the time he is 20 years old. For most players, that is a pipe dream. However, Eli Willits is not most players and he made that very obvious this season.
The 18 year old just finished his first professional season in style. Willits got promoted to Double-A for the last week of the season. While he only got to play three games, the last one was legendary. Willits had a four
hit game which included his first AA home run and two stolen bases. It was an amazing final act to a wonderful season.
With Willits finishing the season in AA, he is putting himself in position to make a debut late in 2027. Despite being such a young player, Willits is remarkably polished. This comes from being the son of a big leaguer and being obsessed with the game ever since he could walk.
When I talked to Willits earlier this season, it was very clear that three things truly mattered to him. Eli Willits is all about family, faith and baseball. You will be hard pressed to find a more business-like 18 year old out there. As Willits put it, he grew up in an MLB clubhouse and it is easy to see that.
That baseball IQ manifests itself on the field. When I watched Willits for the first time in Low-A, the thing that stuck out to me most was how natural he looked. Willits looked like a big league caliber defender at shortstop already. While many young shortstops, even the defensively gifted ones make a lot of errors, Willits is already so secure. He only made 8 errors all season as an 18 year old.
Those instincts also show up on the bases, where Willits is an absolute mad man. He absolutely loves to steal bases and creates havoc out there. For the season, Willits stole a jaw dropping 62 bases across three levels. He did get caught 15 times, but with a success rate around 80%, his aggressiveness was worth it.
When the Nats drafted Willits first overall, we knew that speed and defense were part of his game. Those have been there and are even better than expected. We also expected Willits to have a great hit tool, and that has mostly been the case as well. His contact rates were more solid than spectacular, but you have to account for just how young he is.
With his hit tool being good rather than elite, Willits needed to show more power and plate discipline. This season, the plate discipline has been absolutely elite. Even when he was facing big league arms in Spring Training, you could see how outstanding his approach was. That held up throughout the season.
In 114 games, Willits walked 95 times. His walk rate of 17.7% is absolutely phenomenal, especially for such a young hitter. Willits rarely chased while also swinging at pitches in the zone when he saw them. Plate discipline will be Willits’ best offensive trait in my opinion.
Entering the season, Willits’ biggest concern was his power. He was not known for his pop as an amateur and he did not show much thump in his brief 2025 debut. However, he looked noticeably stronger this year and that showed up with a big power surge. Willits hit 14 homers on the season, including a no-doubter in his last game of the season.
Seeing power develop this quickly for Willits is a great sign. If he can be a 15-20 home run guy at the big league level, he will be one of the most well-rounded players in the sport. The glove at shortstop is elite, his speed is outstanding and he knows how to hit. Power was supposed to be the final piece, but it is coming.
It is worth noting that power was way up across the board in the minors this year and folks are theorizing that the ball was juiced. That may have turned a 10 homer season into a 14 homer campaign. However, even a 10 homer season would be a big step in the right direction for Willits. He also had 27 doubles and 8 triples. In the long run, I think Willits will be a player who racks up a ton of those.
For the season, Eli Willits hit .265 with a .406 OBP and .869 OPS across three levels. He looked like a number 1 pick and has established himself as a top 10 prospect in the sport. At the time, some suggested that Willits was a reach and a money saver as a first overall pick. This season he sure looked like a blue chip prospect.
The way he ended his season was also special. With a 4 hit game in AA, he joined some special company. Fernando Tatis Jr., Jesus Made and Bryce Harper are among the exclusive group of 18 year olds to have a 4 hit game in AA. You have to be a special talent to be successful in Double-A at such a young age.
It is even more special for an American born player to do this because of how the draft works. Willits and Harper are the only Americans to do this. Latin American players sign at 16, so you will see some of the elite ones get to AA at 18. However, it is much more rare to see a US born player accomplish this.
Harper and Willits were both special talents who reclassified and were drafted as 17 year olds. That combination of rare talent and circumstance puts Willits in this group. You just don’t see many 18 year olds in AA, especially ones who are in their first full year as a pro.
Eli Willits is different though. You can see that when watching him play and I got to experience it when talking to him in Wilmington. This is just a gifted and driven individual who is obsessed with baseball. He is a quiet young man, but he is supremely confident.
He said he wanted to be in the big leagues by the time he turned 20 because he knew it was possible. For most professional baseball players that is not a realistic goal. However, Eli Willits is not most professional baseball players and we saw that in his first full year as a pro.
