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1. SS Eli Willits | 18 | A | 2030

I think I’ve been too low on Willits before digging in for this list. Sure, he looks like a high-floor type more than a high-upside guy, athletically speaking, but baseball is much more than athleticism, and Willits checks every box for getting the most out of his tools. He’s a sparkplug on the diamond and a hard-worker off of it, and as the son of major leaguer Reggie Willits, he’s always had a pretty big edge in terms of learning and working on his game. He’s also a switch hitter at 6’1” 180 pounds, which is not small for a 17-year-old. In 15 Low-A games, he slashed .300/.397/.360 and earned a 128 wRC+. Pretty impressive for him to hold his own jumping into a full-season pro league late in the summer like that. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Rosters have been set for Major League Baseball’s Futures Game. First pitch is scheduled for Saturday at 4pm EST. Earlier in the day, tastemakers gather around the batting cage to marvel at the prowess of these youngsters, which seems to generate more helium in the prospect-sphere than the game itself. Makes sense to me. It’s a seven-inning exhibition, and while it’s fun, it’s hard to take too much away from that, although if you reacted to Drake Baldwin’s easy opposite field home run in last year’s game, you played it right. 

Here’s a link to the full Futures Game rosters: https://www.mlb.com/news/2025-futures-game-rosters

A few names jump out to me as having a chance to enhance their name value with a nice batting practice session: Pirates OF Esmerlyn Valdez, Pirates SS Konnor Griffin, Phillies C Eduardo Tait, and Athletics 3B Tommy White. None of these guys are going to sneak up on the people there to see them, but they’re all going to be extremely impressive alongside the game’s best prospects. Griffin is the number one prospect in the minors right now. By no means am I unique in this belief, but it’s going to be the consensus soon, and it might happen next weekend. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?