Nationals' Top Prospect Eli Willits Immediately Thrives in Second High-A Game

Talk about making a good first impression

Fort Cobb-Broxton's Eli Willits runs to first after hitting a fly ball during the high school baseball game between Fort Cobb-Broxton and Stillwater at Edmond Santa Fe High School in Edmond, Okla., Friday, April, 18, 2025. | SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Washington Nationals' highest-ranked prospect, shortstop Eli Willits, is already putting on a show following his recent promotion to High-A Wilmington.

Willits, the first-overall draft pick in 2025 and MLB Pipeline's No. 4 overall prospect for 2026, went 3-for-5 at the plate on Wednesday in his second game with the Wilmington Blue Rocks. Most notably, though, the 18-year-old launched two home runs to produce his first career multi-homer game in the minors. Despite the switch-hitting prospect crushing two solo shots, Wilmington eventually lost 4-3 to the Greensboro Grasshoppers, the High-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Nationals decided to call Willits up to High-A earlier this week as part of a flurry of promotions involving several top prospects, including infielder Devin Fitz-Gerald, who climbed up to Double-A Harrisburg. And in his first game with Wilmington, the young shortstop faced another 2025 first-round pick in Pirates right-handed pitcher Seth Hernandez, MLB Pipeline's No. 3 overall prospect for 2026. Willits walked and struck out in his two at-bats against Hernandez, giving a brief preview of a matchup that fans will likely see many times in the big leagues down the road.

This is just the beginning for Eli Willits

Fort Cobb-Broxton's Eli Willits talks with Stillwater's Ethan Holliday during the high school baseball game between Fort Cobb-Broxton and Stillwater at Edmond Santa Fe High School in Edmond, Okla., Friday, April, 18, 2025. | SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

It's obviously only been two games, but so far, Willits is 3-for-8 at the plate in High-A. This builds on his strong start to the season in Single-A, where he had a .300 batting average, a .418 on-base percentage, and a .918 OPS with six home runs, 37 RBIs, and 29 stolen bases in 47 games. The young shortstop played 15 Single-A games last year after Washington selected him with the first pick in the 2025 MLB draft, so he's now up to 64 total games played in his minor league career.

While it might be easy for Nationals fans to already think about Willits making his big league debut, they're most likely going to have to remain patient for a bit. The switch-hitting shortstop is just 18 years old and is a little over a year removed from playing high school ball against players like Colorado Rockies top prospect Ethan Holliday.

Even Pittsburgh shortstop Konnor Griffin wasn't called up to the majors until he was 19. So, while Washington fans are undoubtedly excited to see Willits immediately succeed at High-A, he's just getting started on his minor league journey.