The Washington Nationals defeated the New York Mets as rookie Brad Lord earned his fourth victory and the team held off a mid-game rally. Organizational attention focused on top prospect Eli Willits, who will move from the Florida Complex League in West Palm Beach to Fredericksburg to begin his professional debut. Willits is 17 and will not turn 18 until December, making him one of the youngest players at the level. He will join other young Nationals prospects such as Luke Dickerson, Ethan Petry, Angel Feliz, and Cristhian Vaquero. Expectations should be tempered while looking for flashes of hitting, speed, or defense that signal long-term potential and momentum into 2026.
But while the big league club was taking care of business in Nationals Park, some of the most important news from the day within the organization came from the lower levels of the farm. The news was broken by Spencer Nusbaum of the Washington Post that the No. 1 prospect in the Nationals organization, and the first overall pick of last month's draft in Eli Willits is slated for his professional debut.
As Nusbaum reported, Willits is headed from the team's Florida Complex League in West Palm Beach up to Fredericksburg, where we are likely to see him get his feet wet in professional baseball for the first time since being taken last month. This is a huge opportunity for the 17-year-old Willits to create some very positive momentum heading into 2026, as many wondered if we would even get to see him play minor league baseball at all in his draft year.
Heading to Fredericksburg, he will have an opportunity to play with several other young Nationals prospects and former high draft picks like Luke Dickerson, Ethan Petry, and even touted international prospects like Angel Feliz and Cristhian Vaquero. The bottom line is that for all fans who have been excited to see what the kid can do, we will have a great opportunity to see that first hand.
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