It’s been a big summer for the Willits family. 2025 #1 overall pick was promoted to High-A Wilmington on June 10th. On June 22nd, older brother Jaxon Willits led the Oklahoma Sooners to a national championship in the College World Series while taking home Most Outstanding Player honors, and on July 12th, Jaxon was selected in the 5th round of the 2026 MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Angels, the organization their father Reggie Willits was drafted by in 2003 and called home for 5 MLB seasons.

But for now, we’re talking about Eli. Willits appears to be having a little bit of trouble adjusting to Wilmington, hitting just .230 and tallying about as many strikeouts as hits since the promotion. However, he has drawn more walks than strikeouts in High-A ball, so he is still showing the good plate vision he was profiled with. The strikeouts could just be a result of youth and professional inexperience. After all, Willits doesn’t turn 19 until December and hasn’t even played 100 professional games yet.

Additionally, Willits was profiled as a switch hitter who could hit the ball to all fields but had below average power. To that first point: check ✅. Across his entire body of work so far in 2026, Willits has 34 extra base hits. To the second point, Willits was believed to have below average power, but it was believed that he could work it up to average power in the future. Well, so far this year, of those 34 extra base hits, 12 of them are homers. Through 299 at-bats across two levels, that’s an average of 24.9 at-bats/HR, which puts him firmly in the average-to-above average category. I don’t think 15-20 home run seasons are out of the realm of possibility for Washington’s top prospect.

This is all still just projection for a kid who is still just 18, but as I stated in his initial prospect spotlight post, Eli Willits is a pure ballplayer who does everything well. Oh, and did I mention he has 39 stolen bases in July?! The kid can flat out play. What will he turn into once he grows into himself? The sky’s the limit.