Washington Nationals Select SS Eli Willits No. 1 Overall | Instant Reaction

And for reaction, welcome in CBS Sports HQ MLB analyst Chris Welsh and National College reporter for Baseball America, Jacob Ruggner. Jacob, I’ll go your way first here. Eli Willitz, this is somewhat of a surprise going number one overall, but there’s rumblings that he took a discount deal to go number one overall. Yeah, that’s certainly the rumor and I imagine that that’s true. after the Nationals fired GM Mike Rizzo. That was the expectation that they were going to go after somebody who was going to be a little bit more friendly financially. Will it certainly checks that box, but I don’t think it’s a slouchy pick either. This is a really good baseball player, a pure baseball player, as we like to say. He’s the youngest guy in this draft. Good actions at shortstop and plays a premium position that I think he’ll be able to stick at. Is it a discount? Yes, I do think so. Uh, but this is somebody who I do think has a lot of talent and really fits the bill as a number one overall pick. I’m I gotta tell you, I came on the show a couple days ago and we talked about Eli Willis and how much I was a fan of him and how I like the skill set. Five tool player, great defender, he can run, but I am still shocked about this. This definitely kind of reeks of maybe what was going on and some of the disagreement uh in management when they made that big change. You have to think that Rizzo and company beforehand were probably looking at the college side to compete early. Uh it was said earlier in the broadcast right before the draft that you probably are looking at if they they’re going to tip their hand. If they’re going to go college, you’re probably looking at a team that’s looking to compete heavy and maybe go into free agency. And if not, if they’re going at a shortstop, they’re probably still in that developmental process. I agree with Jacob that this is not just some uh run by pick. This is a great pick. This is a actual five tool potential player who checks all the boxes, but it just wasn’t the names that a lot of people expected. And it clearly is going to most likely be a dramatic type of uh low sign so they can probably hit that second round of compensatory round a little bit harder. Jacob, when you look at Eli Willitson coming from a baseball family, his father played in the big leagues, currently a coach at Oklahoma, so of course baseball runs in his blood, but what’s the ceiling for him? Because the comp has been Anthony Vulpi, who has been a good major leager at times, but he’s struggled this season as well as a youngster. Listen, there’s a lot of development still for Willlets to do before he gets to a point where we can have conversations about exactly who he’s like, but like we’ve both said, I think that there are a lot of tools here. He’s a plus runner with above average feel at shortstop. The actions are good at the position, good enough that I think he’ll stay there. Uh he’s a switch hitter with solid power developing in that department still. I think eventually he’ll get to a point where he has at least average power, if not slightly below. And then the field to hit is really good as well. This is a guy who is, like you mentioned, brought up in a baseball family. He knows how to play the game in a clean way. And so I do think that the Nationals got somebody who has a lot of potential. Much of that is unlocked, though. This is somebody who’s very, very young. Uh, like I said, the youngest player in the draft. He doesn’t turn 18 until December. Uh, so there’s a long way to go here, but I do think the tools are there. And what this also allows for the team to end up doing is flexibility. You know, they’ve got a young shortstop and CJ Abrams already there. This this allows them whether it is long-term one of these one of these guys clearly is going to have to move whether it would be team or positionally but you get this star player that you can build around you bulk up the system. He fits every and checks every box at this point. He just didn’t have that big star power. I like the flexibility but I definitely again would come back to saying that this does look like it’s a little bit more of a long-term rebuild. So, it’ll be really fascinating to see what the Nationals are going to do later in this draft if they’re going to have another splash and maybe a big overslot pick coming up in just a little bit. Yeah, they don’t pick again until 49, uh, which is in the second round officially. Jacob, when you look at the Nationals and what they’re trying to do in terms of uh becoming competitive again and they take Eli Willlets here, do you think they’re going to look back and have regret knowing that Kate Anderson was on the board or Ethan Holiday was still there or uh Liam Doyle was still on the board? Because a lot of these times, some of these picks, as you know, they don’t hit. So, and and and now they’re in flux here with their scouting department and with their front office. And maybe not so much their scouting because that didn’t really change, but they’re lacking the direction that they need. Well, like Chris just said, I think that this is a pick that does take a couple years to materialize and become something valuable for them. And that’s not to say that it won’t eventually, but this is not necessarily a help you soon MLB draft pick. And and there is a lot of logic that suggests throughout history that you don’t draft for what you need. But there are also a lot of signs lately that point to that kind of being a reasonable strategy. Major League is now elevating college players at a faster rate than we’ve ever seen before. And there were three college left-handers, Kate Anderson, Liam Doyle, and Jamie Arnold at the top of the draft who I thought fit their system a lot better and probably had a chance to be in the majors as soon as next year. So, in terms of being able to help this organization get better quicker, this was not the right pick. I do think that this was, as Chris has said, as I have said, a move to save money, a move that follows a change at the top with your general manager. uh and they took a very clear path that way. I think that they had a decision to make and this was a very defined choice uh because there is no doubt that this was a moneysaver and this is also going to have a lot of scrutiny that’s going to follow it. You know, we don’t we see this from time to time. I believe it was the Carlos Korea draft many years ago. H Kerstood going to a couple years ago. There’s going to be some scrutiny and there’s going to be some eyes on and big comparisons for them to make this move. They passed up what could be a potential organizational face. They have one in James Wood, but in Ethan Holiday and those arms were ready now. This is a hand up for the team saying we need to we still have a long ways to go. We have a record that’s similar to the Pirates right now. Even though we have some great superstars, this is not a finished product and it’s going to follow a lot of scrutiny and it’s going to be very fascinating to see the youngest first overall pick and how he develops and how quick he develops through their system. Yeah, the youngest number one pick in draft history. 17 years, 7 days old, heading to the nation’s capital, drafted number one overall by the Washington Nationals. Much more ahead with Jacob Rudder and Chris Welsh on CBS Sports HQ. Our draft coverage continues throughout the night as you take a look at the Nationals highest draft picks. As I mentioned, Steven Strawber in 2009, Bryce Harper in 2010. Plenty of fanfare there. Steven Schrosburg helped the Nationals win a World Series in 2019, was named World Series MVP. Of course, Bryce Harper was already moved on to the Philadelphia Phillies, and now Eli Willitz with some massive expectations, but plenty of time to develop is what the organization will plan to give him, as you heard Jacob say there. And Eli Willlets the number one pick in the 2025 MLB draft.

Jacob Rudner and Chris Welsh join CBS Sports HQ to react to the Washington Nationals’ No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft.

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