Eli Willits ranked as the Washington Nationals top prospect by Baseball America

With the MLB Draft over, there is an interesting debate about who the Nationals top prospect is between Eli Willits and Travis Sykora

Following the MLB Draft, the great folks over at Baseball America updated the top 30 prospects for each organization. They included the players from the 2025 draft on their lists. It is always interesting to see how the new draft picks stack up with the other players in the system.

In what was a bit of a surprise for me, BA ranked Eli Willits as the Nats top prospect over Travis Sykora. While Willits was the number one overall pick, I still thought Sykora’s electric performances over the past 18 months would have him keep his spot as the Nats top prospect.

However, BA thought differently. I wonder if Sykora’s decent triceps injury played a role in their thought process. Travis Sykora has dominated the opposition since starting his professional career. The 2023 draft pick has a 2.14 ERA in 130.1 innings with 208 strikeouts in his pro career. Opponents are only hitting .152 against him as a pro.

However, the vast majority of this production has come in A ball, so maybe the folks at BA just want to see Sykora do it again at a higher level. The jump from High-A to Double-A is considered one of the biggest ones in the minors and we saw Sykora have some difficulties in his AA debut.

Willits is also a tremendous prospect in his own right. He was the number 3 prospect on BA’s draft board behind Ethan Holliday and Seth Hernandez. I think Willits has been underrated by a lot of people who just saw him as the cheap option. Yes, the pick saved money, but people closer to the industry thought the gap between him and Ethan Holliday was much closer than the general public seemed to.

Willits is not the flashiest player in the world. He does not have big time power or one top of the scale trait. However, he does everything well and is super young. Willits is a very refined switch hitter with great bat to ball skills and a good approach. Many scouts also think he can grow into average power as he gets older. His smooth actions and good arm make him close to a lock to stick at shortstop.

Despite being so young, Willits is a really refined player. There just are not many holes in his game. Sure, he does not have a ton of power right now, but he does not turn 18 until December. He has also shown enough juice to have scouts dream on 15-20 homer power one day.

Willits has said his goal is to become a big leaguer by the time he is 20. For most, that is a pipe dream. However, with his youth, polish and skill, it is something I can see the young man accomplishing.

For me, I would probably have Sykora as the top prospect in the system, but only by a hair. Sykora has such a track record of performance and that is tough to ignore. However, on a top 100 list, these two players should be within about 10 spots of each other. To read more about these two and the rest of the Nats prospects, you should subscribe to BA.

Speaking of the rest of the BA list, there are a few more draftees on the list. Ethan Petry and Coy James are ranked back to back on the list. Petry is ranked 8th and James is listed as the 9th best prospect in the organization.

Petry and James are very different players. Petry is a college masher who is likely to play first base, while James is a projectable high school infielder. However, those two being in the same range feels right to me.

Interestingly, third round pick Landon Harmon is ranked as the 13th best prospect. That feels low for me, but BA had Harmon lower on their board than MLB Pipeline. I like Harmon a lot and think he should be in that group with Petry and James.

Harmon has an explosive fastball that can reach 99 MPH already. He also has a projectable 6’5 190 pound frame, so you can dream on even more velocity that holds up deeper into games. Harmon is a great athlete on the mound with a potential plus-plus heater. His slider has also shown promise as well.

Like most high school arms, his command is not elite by any means, but it is not a problem either. For me, Harmon has the potential to have a Travis Sykora type rise and BA is sleeping on him just a bit.

The last draftee on the list is Miguel Sime Jr., who ranks 19th in the system. That is the right sort of range for me. He is definitely a step down from the likes of Harmon, Petry and James. However, he still has big time talent. He has a fastball that can reach 101 MPH. The pitch also plays to that elite velocity as well.

The rest of his game is still a work in progress. His secondary pitches can look good at times, but they do not have the consistency yet. Sime has a curveball and changeup that have their moments but his feel for those pitches comes and goes.

His command is also below average right now. Scouts say he loses the zone at times and he is not very precise when he is in the zone. With an 100 MPH fastball, you do not need to be perfect, but Sime still has to polish his command.

On the positive side, Sime is pretty similar to what Jarlin Susana was at that age. Susana has become a top 100 prospect by sharpening up his slider and finding the zone at a higher rate. There is a lot of risk here, but with his fastball, it is easy to see how Sime can be at least a solid reliever. If his development goes well, he could be much more.

It was very interesting to see how these new players stack up in the farm system. The Nats first five picks in this draft are all high level prospects who could really blow up if they hit. Baseball America is a great place because of all the information they give you. I would highly recommend subscribing to them.