Nationals sign Eli Willits: No. 1 overall pick in 2025 MLB Draft gets $8.2 million signing bonus, per report

The Washington Nationals have reached a contract agreement with shortstop Eli Willits, the No. 1 overall pick in last Sunday’s amateur draft, the team announced. Willits will receive an $8.2 million signing bonus, per MLB.com, which is well below the $11,075,900 slot value for the No. 1 pick. The Nationals did not announce the financial figures.

Willits’ $8.2 million bonus is the largest ever given to a high school player, beating out the $8.19 million bonus the Baltimore Orioles gave infielder Jackson Holliday as the No. 1 pick in 2022. It is the seventh largest bonus of the draft pool era (since 2012).

It is not uncommon for high draft picks, including the No. 1 pick, to sign below slot. In fact, Torkelson is the only No. 1 pick since 2016 to sign for full slot value. Every other No. 1 pick since then, including Skenes, signed below slot, some at several million below slot. The $2,878,900 the Nationals saved by signing Willits below slot will be spent on above-slot bonuses for later picks.

We ranked Willits, the son of former big leaguer and current college coach Reggie Willits, the No. 1 prospect leading into the draft. Here’s the write-up:

Willits is considered to be the other prep shortstop with big-league bloodlines near the top of the class, but I ranked him aggressively in the spring and I see no reason to not do the same here. Reggie’s son is a surefire shortstop with all the necessary weaponry to be a plus or better defender at maturation. He’s also a promising switch-hitter with strong bat-to-ball and zone-management skills (though he seems unlikely to get to even average power). As an added bonus, Willits won’t celebrate his 18th birthday until December — studies have shown that such competence at a young age tends to bode well for the player’s long-term outlook. I don’t know that he’ll go No. 1, but I would be shocked if he’s available outside of the top five.

Not surprisingly, we gave the Nationals an “A” for selecting the No. 1 player in the draft class with the No. 1 overall pick. Willits joins a Washington pipeline that includes touted righty Travis Sykora and the recent call-up Brady House. The Nationals surely hope he can move through the minors quickly and join CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, and James Wood in the big leagues soon.

“Eli was the top guy on our board,” Nationals interim GM Mike DeBartolo said after selecting Willits with the No. 1 pick. “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.”

Once he gets officially signed and situated, the 17-year-old Willits could make his professional debut in the Florida Complex League. That is rookie ball — the lowest level of the minors. The FCL regular season runs through July 24. After that, Willits could head up to Low Class-A, where he would be one of the youngest players in the league.

The Nationals fired longtime GM Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez only days before the draft. DeBartolo was named interim GM and led the way on draft day.