Wilmington Blue Rocks shortstop Eli Willits is 18 years old and has not even played a full minor league season. But he looks and sounds like a big league shortstop already.
The No. 1 overall pick in last year’s MLB Draft by the Nationals and No. 4 prospect per MLB Pipeline leads all minor league shortstops with 9 Defensive Runs Saved and has 2 Runs Saved in a handful of games at second base too. His 11 Runs Saved overall are the most of any minor league infielder or outfielder. Players are evaluated against MLB out probabilities, and while most minor league shortstops have a negative total, Willits has a high positive one.
Willits talks about playing the position as someone who has been mentored since the time he could walk by his father, former major leaguer Reggie Willits, and later ex-Mets manager (and his former coach), Carlos Mendoza. We talked about how he plays defense and the theme that came up repeatedly is that Willits plays aggressive to the ball in order to avoid any chance at a bad hop.
“Your first step needs to be in, because if you’re not, the runners are so good, they’re going to be safe at first,” Willits said in an interview on this week’s episode of The Sports Info Solutions Baseball Podcast. “You have to have a quick first step. Not a lot of people know that you create your own hop. If you want a short hop, you can create a short hop. If you want a long hop, you create the long hop.”
The top four prospects on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 list are all shortstops or shortstops who also play another position, as are seven of the top eight position player prospects. MLB Pipeline’s No. 14 prospect overall is George Lombard Jr., who is already crushing it defensively for the Yankees with 6 Runs Saved in 19 games.
The other one to watch among that group is Red Sox prospect Franklin Arias, who is MLB Pipeline’s No. 3, one spot ahead of Willits. MLB has given him a 60 Fielding Grade on its 20-80 scouting scale, the same as Willits. Arias has 1 Run Saved at shortstop split between Double-A and Triple-A this season, so he seems major league ready there too.
Check out the newest Sports Info Solutions Baseball Podcast for our interview with Willits, Brewers second base prospect Dylan O’Rae, and Pirates R&D analyst Jack Cecil.
