Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I understand why MLB wants to turn the draft into a big event, but I just don’t think it’s ever going to work.
In today’s SI:AM:
🎾 Sinner triumphant at Wimbledon
🏈 Ravens season preview
⚽ Chelsea wins CWC
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Who saw this coming?
The Nationals had months to decide who they wanted to take with the first pick in Sunday’s MLB draft, and when the moment came, they shocked everybody by selecting a player who hadn’t been regarded as being in the running for the top choice.
Washington took Eli Willits, a high school shortstop from Oklahoma, passing up bigger-name prospects like Ethan Holliday (another high school infielder from Oklahoma who is the son of longtime big leaguer Matt Holliday and the brother of Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday) and LSU pitcher Kade Anderson.
Willits isn’t a nobody. ESPN ranked him as the No. 3 prospect in the draft, while MLB.com and Fangraphs both had him at No. 5. Like Holliday, he’s also the son of a former pro. His father, Reggie Willits, played six seasons as a light-hitting outfielder for the Angels from 2006 to ’11. The elder Willits also spent time as a coach for the Yankees and now coaches at Oklahoma, where Eli had committed to play before the draft, and where another son, Jaxon, now plays.
The Nationals weren’t the only team to go off script with their pick. The Angels made an even more surprising pick at No. 2, selecting Tyler Bremner, a righthanded pitcher from UC Santa Barbara. Bremner was ranked as the No. 18 prospect in the draft by both ESPN and MLB.com, while Fangraphs was more bullish on him, ranking him seventh.
The Willits pick may have gone against industry consensus, but the Nats were adamant he was the best player available.
“Eli was the top guy on our board,” Washington interim general manager Mike DeBartolo said. “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.”
Willits is the third-youngest player to be selected with the top pick in the draft, following 1968 top pick Tim Foli (17 years, 180 days) and 1987 top pick Ken Griffey Jr. (17 years, 193 days).
The Angels went in the opposite direction, choosing an experienced college pitcher in Bremner, who just completed his junior year. The Bremner pick is in line with the Angels’ recent emphasis on prioritizing pitching in the draft. Last year, 15 of the 21 players Los Angeles drafted were pitchers, and in 2021 the team used all 20 of its picks on pitchers.
“We’ve been following Tyler for years,” Angels scouting director Tim McIlvaine said. “We really like Tyler’s changeup. We think it’s a pitch that, whenever he’s in trouble, he can go to that changeup. He can get outs with that. We like his fastball a lot at 98 mph, and he’s six-foot-[two] and he’s going to put on more weight. There’s a lot you can dream on.”
Anderson, the LSU pitcher, was next off the board to the Mariners. The 21-year-old lefty is among the most MLB-ready players in the draft as a four-pitch starter who led Division I with 180 strikeouts in 119 innings against a tough SEC schedule.
The Rockies took Holliday with the fourth pick, a fitting selection considering that his father began his MLB career there. The other reason Colorado is a perfect destination for Holliday is that his power is considered his greatest tool, so playing at altitude will only amplify his ability to hit the ball over the fence.
The first three rounds of the draft were completed on Sunday, while rounds four through 20 will be completed on Monday, beginning at 11:30 a.m. ET.
The best of Sports Illustrated
- Jannik Sinner got revenge on Carlos Alcaraz in a thrilling men’s singles final at Wimbledon. Jon Wertheim broke down how the Italian was able to triumph after a heartbreaking loss to Alcaraz in the French Open final five weeks ago.
- Wertheim’s 50 Parting Thoughts column is always a must-read after any Grand Slam event.
- Baltimore’s roster is loaded after several offseason moves, but will the additions be enough to finally carry them to a Super Bowl? Gilberto Manzano continues SI’s 32 teams in 32 days series with the Ravens.
- The rich history of golf’s oldest championship is as much about the venues as the champions, and Bob Harig lists all of them.
- Cole Palmer’s first-half brilliance and Enzo Maresca’s tactical masterclass propelled underdog Chelsea to a stunning 3–0 rout of PSG, securing the FIFA Club World Cup title.
The top five…
… things I saw yesterday:
5. The final out of the High-A Greensboro Grasshoppers’ combined perfect game. (I’m not too impressed by combined no-hitters/perfect games, but the Greensboro announcer clearly doesn’t share my skepticism.)
4. Marine Johannes’s three-pointer to cap an 11–0 run for the Liberty as they erased a 19-point deficit against the Dream. New York went on to win, 79–72.
3. A nice sequence from Caitlin Clark, getting the block on one end, followed by a long assist.
2. A sliding catch by Manny Machado in foul territory.
1. An amazing slide by Tyler Stephenson to avoid a tag at second.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | Nationals and Angels Make Surprising Picks Atop the MLB Draft.