Nationals take 17-year-old Eli Willits with No 1 pick in MLB Draft

High school shortstop Eli Willits became the latest teenager to take a big step in making his professional baseball dreams come true The Washington Nationals selected Willits with the No overall pick of the MLB amateur draft on Sunday night CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS COMAt years old he s the youngest athlete taken No since Ken Griffey Jr in with the Seattle Mariners He s the son of ex-major leaguer Reggie Willits who played for the Los Angeles Angels and was a coach with the New York Yankees Willits played baseball at Fort Cobb-Broxton High School in Oklahoma He s a switch-hitting shortstop who is expected to put more power into his swing as he develops I feel like I have good hitability and I m going to take that to the next level Willits stated about his strengths And I feel like my power is up and coming but I needed to get into an organization like the Nationals that can help develop that and take that to the next level Willits is years and days old Griffey was and days old when the Mariners chose him No Tim Foli who was the top pick in was the youngest at years days old according to MLB com MLB ALL-STAR MEETING BUILDING ALL-TIME LINEUPS FOR ALL TEAMSThe Nationals selection came a week after the organization fired manager Dave Martinez and general manager Mike Rizzo But Nationals interim general manager Mike DeBartolo maintained that Willits was the top guy on the board It's one of those nice things where the scouts and the analysts see things exactly the same way and saw him as the best hitter in the draft the best fielder in the draft with just great makeup great work ethic and all the intangibles DeBartolo mentioned via MLB com Willits hit with an OPS of in his final year in high school The Associated Press contributed to this overview Follow Fox News Digital s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter