Nats surprise at top of MLB draft with SS Willits
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Alden Gonzalez
ATLANTA — Major League Baseball’s 2025 draft began Sunday with two stunners: the Washington Nationals taking high school shortstop Ethan Willits with the No. 1 pick, and the Los Angeles Angels selecting UC Santa Barbara starting pitcher Tyler Bremner at No. 2.
The Nationals had been widely expected to take either Ethan Holliday, another high school infielder, or LSU left-hander Kade Anderson but went with Willits because they considered him “the best hitter in the draft and the best fielder in the draft,” interim general manager Mike DeBartolo told reporters on a video conference.
“It made this very easy for us.”
After the Angels chose Bremner, a 6-foot-2 right-hander with a plus changeup, it cleared the way for the Seattle Mariners to jump on Anderson, widely considered the best pitcher in this draft, with the No. 3 pick. The Mariners subsequently agreed to an $8.8 million signing bonus with Anderson, about $700,000 less than the slot value for the No. 3 pick, a source told ESPN, confirming a report by MLB.com.
The Colorado Rockies followed by taking Holliday, the son of one of the best players in their franchise’s history, at No. 4.
The first round of the draft was held at a small concert venue adjacent to Truist Park, site of Monday’s Home Run Derby and Tuesday’s All-Star Game. Fans filled the place, but no draftees were present — a function, largely, of some of the major agencies advising their clients not to attend, at the risk of surrendering leverage.
Tennessee left-hander Liam Doyle went to the St. Louis Cardinals at No. 5; right-hander Seth Hernandez, the Gatorade National Player of the Year while starring for Corona High School in California, went to the Pittsburgh Pirates at No. 6; and Oregon State shortstop Aiva Arquette went to the Miami Marlins at No. 7. The next three picks were high school shortstops, highlighting a major strength of this draft: JoJo Parker (eighth to the Toronto Blue Jays), Steele Hall (ninth to the Cincinnati Reds) and Billy Carlson (10th to the Chicago White Sox).
Willits, who doesn’t turn 18 until Dec. 9, led Fort Cobb-Broxton High School in Oklahoma to its third straight state title this past season and had previously committed to Oklahoma. A 6-foot-1 switch-hitter, Willits is hailed for his bat-to-ball skills and plate discipline and is considered a strong defensive shortstop. At 17 years and 216 days old, he is the youngest player taken No. 1 since the Mariners took Ken Griffey Jr. in 1987.
“He makes the routine plays about as easy as anybody you can see, much less a 17-year-old,” Nationals vice president of amateur scouting Danny Haas said.
Willits is the son of ex-big leaguer Reggie Willits, who played six seasons with the Angels and also coached with the New York Yankees.
It was only a week ago that the Nationals fired general manager Mike Rizzo, who was in his 17th year atop baseball operations and had a big hand in selecting Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper the other times the team drafted No. 1 overall — in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Nationals manager Davey Martinez was also fired last week.
Willits has drawn comparisons to current Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe. He won’t hit for a lot of power, but he has the potential to routinely hit 20 home runs and steal 20 bases at a premium position. Slot value for the No. 1 pick is a record $11,075,900 this year.
“I feel like I have good hittability and I’m going to take that to the next level,” Willits said when asked 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.”
Bremner sits at 93 to 96 mph with his fastball, while also boasting a changeup and slider. He posted a 3.49 ERA with a Big West-leading 111 strikeouts in 77⅓ innings this season. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel ranked him as the 18th-best prospect heading into the draft, behind six other pitchers, but other teams considered taking him much earlier in the draft. His selection came a month after his mother died of breast cancer.
“I know she’s out there watching, and in a weird way, I went to the Angels,” Bremner said. “It’s weird how life works, so, it’s a special moment.”
Anderson was named Most Outstanding Player at this year’s College World Series, winning both of his starts and posting a 0.56 ERA while leading the LSU Tigers to their second championship in three years. Prior to that, he led Division I with 180 strikeouts and 119 innings and was a Golden Spikes Award semifinalist, following in the success of former LSU star and 2023 No. 1 pick Paul Skenes.
Holliday, the Oklahoma Gatorade Player of the Year, batted .611 with 19 homers, a 1.295 slugging percentage and a 2.038 OPS in his senior year at Stillwater High School in Oklahoma.
Holliday projects to play either shortstop or third base, and he’ll be doing it for the same organization that drafted his father, Matt, in the seventh round in 1998. Matt Holliday made three All-Star teams with the Rockies in the 2000s. His son is now the first top-five pick to be drafted by the same team his father played on. Ethan and Jackson Holliday (No. 1 to the Orioles in 2022) are the third set of brothers to go within the top 10, joining B.J. and Justin Upton and Dmitri and Delmon Young.
“I’m super thankful for this opportunity,” Ethan Holliday told ESPN. “The Rockies are an incredible organization with which my family is very familiar, so I’m super juiced.”
After the selection, Colorado posted a photo of Holliday as a child with the caption, “Meant to be.”
Meant to be 💜 pic.twitter.com/Ua1T5h3xT6
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) July 13, 2025
The top of this year’s draft was unusual for several reasons, outside of the top two picks. It marked the first time in 13 years that only one college hitter (Arquette) was selected within the top 10, one year after seven college hitters went in that range. Six of the first 10 in 2025 were high school players, the first time that had occurred since 2002. And when the Tampa Bay Rays chose Daniel Pierce 14th, it marked the ninth shortstop selected.
No outfielders were taken within the first 15 picks, marking only the third time that has happened. Hernandez and Carlson, meanwhile, became the first high school teammates ever to be selected in the top 10 in the same draft. In a few years, Hernandez, who had a .300/.371/.590 slash line in 33 games as a hitter and a 0.39 ERA in 53⅓ innings as a pitcher, could join a Pirates rotation alongside Skenes and Jared Jones.
“That was probably my first thought,” Hernandez told MLB Network shortly after being drafted. “Paul Skenes is unbelievable. I obviously know Jared Jones, so to be able to go through the process with them, be able to learn from those guys, is unbelievable.”
Florida State lefty Jamie Arnold was ranked fifth by McDaniel heading into the draft and fell to the Athletics at No. 11. Kyson Witherspoon, a right-hander from Oklahoma, was ranked 10th by ESPN and went to the Boston Red Sox with the No. 15 pick. The Chicago Cubs, meanwhile, took a flier on Ethan Conrad, the Wake Forest right fielder who was projected for the end of the first round, at best, after undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery in March. He instead went 17th.
Left-handed shortstop Brady Ebel, son of Los Angeles Dodgers third-base coach Dino Ebel, was drafted 32nd by the Milwaukee Brewers, making Corona the first high school with three players selected in the first round of a single draft. All told, 18 shortstops were selected in the first round — the most in draft history.
The first three rounds, representing the first 105 picks, took place Sunday. Rounds 4 to 20 will follow Monday.
It’s 2025 MLB All-Star Home Run Derby day in Atlanta!
Some of the most dynamic home run hitters in baseball will be taking aim at the Truist Park stands on Monday (8 p.m. ET on ESPN) in one of the most anticipated events of the summer.
While the prospect of a back-to-back champion is out of the picture — 2024 winner Teoscar Hernandez is not a part of this year’s field — a number of exciting stars will be taking the field, including Atlanta’s own Matt Olson, who replaced Ronald Acuna Jr. just three days before the event. Will Olson make a run in front of his home crowd? Will Cal Raleigh show off the power that led to 38 home runs in the first half? Or will one of the younger participants take the title?
We have your one-stop shop for everything Derby related, from predictions to live updates once we get underway to analysis and takeaways at the night’s end.
MLB Home Run Derby field
Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners (38 home runs in 2025)
James Wood, Washington Nationals (24)
Junior Caminero, Tampa Bay Rays (23)
Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins (21)
Brent Rooker, Athletics (20)
Matt Olson, Atlanta Braves (17)
Jazz Chisholm Jr., New York Yankees (17)
Oneil Cruz, Pittsburgh Pirates (16)
Live updates
Who is going to win the Derby and who will be the runner-up?
Jeff Passan: Raleigh. His swing is perfect for the Derby: He leads MLB this season in both pull percentage and fly ball percentage, so it’s not as if he needs to recalibrate it to succeed. He has also become a prolific hitter from the right side this season — 16 home runs in 102 at-bats — and his ability to switch between right- and left-handed pitching offers a potential advantage. No switch-hitter (or catcher for that matter) has won a Home Run Derby. The Big Dumper is primed to be the first, beating Buxton in the finals.
Alden Gonzalez: Cruz. He might be wildly inconsistent at this point in his career, but he is perfect for the Derby — young enough to possess the stamina required for a taxing event that could become exhausting in the Atlanta heat; left-handed, in a ballpark where the ball carries out better to right field; and, most importantly, capable of hitting balls at incomprehensible velocities. Raleigh will put on a good show from both sides of the plate but will come in second.
Buster Olney: Olson. He is effectively pinch-hitting for Acuna, and because he received word in the past 72 hours of his participation, he hasn’t had the practice rounds that the other competitors have been going through. But he’s the only person in this group who has done the Derby before, which means he has experienced the accelerated pace, adrenaline and push of the crowd.
His pitcher, Eddie Perez, knows something about performing in a full stadium in Atlanta. And, as Olson acknowledged in a conversation Sunday, the park generally favors left-handed hitters because of the larger distances that right-handed hitters must cover in left field.
Jesse Rogers: Olson. Home-field advantage will mean something this year as hitting in 90-plus degree heat and humidity will be an extra challenge in Atlanta. Olson understands that and can pace himself accordingly. Plus, he was a late addition. He has got nothing to lose. He’ll outlast the young bucks in the field. And I’m not putting Raleigh any lower than second — his first half screams that he’ll be in the finals against Olson.
Jorge Castillo: Wood. His mammoth power isn’t disputed — he can jack baseballs to all fields. But the slight defect in his power package is that he doesn’t hit the ball in the air nearly as often as a typical slugger. Wood ranks 126th out of 155 qualified hitters across the majors in fly ball percentage. And he still has swatted 24 home runs this season. So, in an event where he’s going to do everything he can to lift baseballs, hitting fly balls won’t be an issue, and Wood is going to show off that gigantic power en route to a victory over Cruz in the finals.
Who will hit the longest home run of the night — and how far?
Passan: Cruz hits the ball harder than anyone in baseball history. He’s the choice here, at 493 feet.
Gonzalez: If you exclude the Coors Field version, there have been just six Statcast-era Derby home runs that have traveled 497-plus feet. They were compiled by two men: Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. James Wood — all 6-foot-7, 234 pounds of him — will become the third.
Olney: James Wood has the easy Stanton- and Judge-type power, and he will clear the Chophouse with the longest homer. Let’s say 497 feet.
Rogers: Hopefully he doesn’t injure himself doing it, but Buxton will break out his massive strength and crush a ball at least 505 feet. I don’t see him advancing far in the event, but for one swing, he’ll own the night.
Castillo: Cruz hits baseballs hard and far. He’ll crush a few bombs, and one will reach an even 500 feet.
Who is the one slugger fans will know much better after the Derby?
Passan: Buxton capped his first half with a cycle on Saturday, and he’ll carry that into the Derby, where he will remind the world why he was baseball’s No. 1 prospect in 2015. Buxton’s talent has never been in question, just his health. And with his body feeling right, he has the opportunity to put on a show fans won’t soon forget.
Olney: Caminero isn’t a big name and wasn’t a high-end prospect like Wood was earlier in his career. Just 3½ years ago, Caminero was dealt to the Rays by the Cleveland Guardians in a relatively minor November trade for pitcher Tobias Myers. But since then, he has refined his ability to cover inside pitches and is blossoming this year into a player with ridiculous power. He won’t win the Derby, but he’ll open some eyes.
What’s the one moment we’ll all be talking about long after this Derby ends?
Gonzalez: The incredible distances and velocities that will be reached, particularly by Wood, Cruz, Caminero, Raleigh and Buxton. The hot, humid weather at Truist Park will only aid the mind-blowing power that will be on display Monday night.
Rogers: The exhaustion on the hitter’s faces, swinging for home run after home run in the heat and humidity of Hot-lanta!
Castillo: Cruz’s 500-foot blast and a bunch of other lasers he hits in the first two rounds before running out of gas in the finals.
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