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The Campocorto of the Eli Willits high school became the last teenager to take a big step to make his professional baseball come true.
Washington nationals selected Willits with the general selection number 1 of the MLB amateur draft on Sunday night.
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Baseball player of the entire state, Eli Willits of Fort Cobb-Boxton, is shown in Edmond, Oklahoma, on Friday, June 6, 2025. (Bryan Terry / The Oklahoman / USA Today Network through IMAGN images)
At age 17, he is the youngest player taken No. 1 from Ken Griffey Jr. in 1987 with Seattle sailors.
He is the son of former Major Reggie Willits player, who played for Los Angeles Angels and was coach of the New York Yankees.
Willits played baseball at Fort Cobb-Broxton High School in Oklahoma. It is a campocorto that hits the change that is expected to put more power in your swing while developing.
“I feel that I have a good hitability, and I will take that to the next level,” Willits said about his strengths. “And I feel that my power is promising, but I needed to enter an organization like nationals that can help develop that and take it to the next level.”
Willits is 17 years and 216 days. Griffey had 17 and 193 days when the sailors chose him No. 1. Tim Foli, who was the best selection in 1968, was the youngest at age 17, 180 days, according to MLB.com.
Washington nationals select Eli Willits, from Oklahoma in the first round of the MLB baseball draft on Sunday, July 13, 2025 in Atlanta. (Photo AP/Mike Stewart)
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The selection of the nationals occurred a week after the organization dismissed the manager Dave MartÃnez and the General Manager Mike Rizzo.
But the interim general manager of the nationals, Mike Debartolo, said Willits was the best type of the Board.
“It is one of those beautiful things in which explorers and analysts see things exactly in the same way and saw it as the best batter of the draft, the best draft gardener with a great makeup, a great work ethic and all the intangibles,” said Debartolo, through MLB.com.
The MLB commissioner, Rob Manfred, speaks during the first round of the MLB baseball draft on Sunday, July 13, 2025 in Atlanta. (Photo AP/Mike Stewart)
Willits hit .473 with an OPS of .912 in his last year in high school.
