Although the Washington Nationals suffered arguably their worst loss in over a decade on Wednesday afternoon against the San Francisco Giants, the day was not all bad for the organization. At the big league level, yes, it was a brutal day, but down on the farm, things were not all bad.
The Nationals had a few top prospects perform well, including Seaver King and another top middle infield prospect in Eli WIllits. Following his recent promotion to High-A Wilmington, Willits is off to prove that he could emerge as one of the top prospects in all of baseball.
Eli Willits showing surprising power early on in High-A
The 18-year-old shortstop was just bumped to Wilmington less than a week ago, but he already is proving that he might have more power in his skillset than originally anticipated. The 2025 #1 overall pick is already a top 5 prospect in baseball, but if his power can come in sooner than anticipated, he might be able to speed up his timeline to the majors.
After going 0/3 with a pair of walks drawn in his debut for the Blue Rocks against fellow top 5 prospect Seth Hernandez of the Pirates' organization and Greensboro Grasshoppers, Willits flexed his muscles in the subsequent 2 games, but especially in Wednesday's contest.
In the Blue Rocks' 4-3 loss, Willits finished the game 3/5, including hitting not only his very first, but also his second homer at the High-A level, a feat that was completely unexpected given that he is the youngest player across the league to be at the level. Both of the homers were solo shots, but to already have a breakout game like that was extremely impressive.
Now throw in the fact that Willits also homered again in Thursday's 9-5 victory for the Blue Rocks, and suddenly we could be seeing a Wilmington power surge similar to the one we saw Devin Fitz-Gerald go on before being promoted to AA Harrisburg earlier this week. Willits now has 3 homers in 3 games, and he also has an even 3:3 K:BB ratio so far as well.
Eli Willits CLEARS the scoreboard 👀
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) June 12, 2026
The @Nationals' No. 1 prospect has three homers in three games since his promotion to the High-A @WilmBlueRocks: pic.twitter.com/2GkQ89HQrK
His elite plate discipline and surging power combined with elite speed and glove make him a candidate to be a true 5-tool prospect, the kind of combination that would put him on a shortlist to be the #1 prospect in the game sooner rather than later. Time will tell if Willits can keep this up, but he has been everything as advertised and more since being drafted last year by the Nationals.
What do you think of Eli Willits' power surge upon his promotion to High-A Wilmington? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.
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