2025 MLB Draft: Six candidates to go No. 1 as Nationals hold first pick, including a dark horse pitcher

Major League Baseball’s amateur draft is only weeks away, with the Washington Nationals slated to make the first overall pick come Sunday, July 13. 

When the Nationals make their selection, it’ll represent the third time in Washington franchise history they’ve chosen atop the draft, joining when they picked Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg back-to-back in 2009-10. Just who might the Nationals choose? 

Below, CBS Sports has highlighted six amateur players who appear to be realistic candidates for the honor. It should be noted that it’s unlikely even the Nationals know who they’re taking at this point in the process. Ask any scouting director worth their weight in sand, and they’ll tell you that these calls are made in the final hours, once it becomes nut-cutting time on signing bonus negotiations. With that in mind, treat this for what it is: a survey of the most likely options.

Got it? Good. Let’s roll on.

The collegiate left-handers

1. Kade Anderson, LHP, LSU

2. Liam Doyle, LHP, Tennessee

3. Jamie Arnold, LHP, Florida State

We’ll start with the three best pitchers in the class. Coincidentally, they’re all collegiate lefties.

Arnold entered the spring ranked as CBS Sports’ top draft prospect on the strength of a four-pitch arsenal and a modern release point. He didn’t have as good of a season this year, however, and he has some stiff competition for the crown of best pitcher in the class. Doyle was the breakout collegiate star of the year, dominating the opposition with a big-time fastball. Anderson, for his part, is an SEC-vetted lefty with a deep arsenal and good control.

Anderson has been getting buzz lately for the top spot. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything — again, these decisions tend to be made late — but, as one scout reasoned, he could move quickly and slot into a rotation by this time next year. The Nationals haven’t selected a pitcher in the first round since 2020, for whatever that’s worth.

The prepsters

4. Ethan Holliday, SS/3B, Stillwater HS (OK)

5. Eli Willits, SS, Fort Cobb-Broxton HS (OK)

Holliday and Willits (and not necessarily in that order) are considered the best prep players in the class. Both are left-side infielders with ample bloodlines: Holliday’s father is Matt and brother is Jackson, while Willits’ father is Reggie (and brother Jaxon is a collegiate player at Oklahoma). 

Holliday, who seems likely to outgrow shortstop, pairs a good approach with plus strength. He does feature swing-and-miss within the zone, leading scouts to dock his hit-tool projection. Conversely, Willits is a skilled defensive shortstop with good bat-to-ball skills who might not ascend beyond fringe power. Willits won’t turn 18 until December, a seemingly trivial note that actually enhances his standing with teams who make heavy use of modeling. (The Nationals, for their part, are not viewed as one of those teams.)

The dark horse

6. Seth Hernandez, RHP, Corona HS (CA)

Hernandez would be the most polarizing selection the Nationals could make among the names presented within this article. 

That dynamic has less to do with Hernandez himself and more to do with his general profile: a prep right-handed pitcher. Why does it matter? A prep right-hander has never been selected with the No. 1 pick. Heck, only two prep left-handers have been chosen No. 1 overall in the last 35 years (the most recent being Brady Aiken in 2014). Most front offices these days recognize that prep righties have a brutal attrition rate, making it difficult to justify using a premium selection on one.

To be fair to Hernandez, he’s an interesting pitching prospect if you can separate him from the failures of the past. His fastball sits in the mid-to-upper 90s and he’s shown both a good changeup and a feel for spinning the ball. He also possesses the kind of workhorse frame that teams used to (though less so nowadays) desire in their starting pitcher prospects.

Who knows, maybe Hernandez ends up being a Hunter Greene or a Jameson Taillon. There’s just no guarantee that he won’t end up becoming the new Kohl Stewart, Tyler Kolek, or Riley Pint.