The Nationals have agreed to sign Eli Willits, the first overall pick of the 2025 draft. The high school shortstop announced yesterday (in an interview on CNN with Wolf Blitzer) that he planned to officially ink his first pro contract today, and the Nats indeed have a press conference set to mark the event. MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis reports that Willits will receive an $8.2MM bonus, which is the highest bonus ever given to a high school draft pick. However, Willits’ bonus is well beneath the $11,075,900 slot value assigned to the 1-1 selection.
Washington’s decision to select Willits raised a few eyebrows on draft night, and it would seem like his willingness to take a below-slot deal factored into the Nationals’ plan. With just under $2.876MM saved in draft pool money, the Nats can now re-allocate some funds towards other members of their draft class. To wit, the New York Post’s Jon Heyman reports that the Nats went way over slot to sign fourth-rounder Miguel Sime Jr., who had committed to LSU. Sime will now instead start his pro career after getting $2MM from the Nationals — Sime’s draft spot of 111th overall has an attached $687,800 slot price.
Several teams have adopted this tactic in the draft pool era, opting to spread around to their available money to multiple highly-touted players rather than commit the bulk of the draft pool towards its top pick. Willits will still end up with just under half of Washington’s $16,597,800 total pool, and the $8.2MM figure seems purposeful, as Willits can at least claim to getting the biggest draft payday of any high schooler.
More to come…
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