The Nationals will send two of their most promising young talents to Philadelphia for the 2026 All-Star Futures Game.
Shortstop Eli Willits and right-handed pitcher Miguel Sime Jr. were selected to represent Washington’s organization in the game at Citizens Bank Park on Sunday, July 12. Major League Baseball announced the picks Wednesday on MLB Network, with the 27th All-Star Futures Game set to showcase top Minor League prospects during All-Star Sunday.
Willits, just 18, arrives with plenty of attention already attached to his name. He’s Washington’s top prospect and the No. 3 prospect in all of baseball, according to MLBPipeline.com. He’s also the only player in Minor League Baseball this season to post at least 10 home runs, 35 stolen bases and 65 runs scored.
The production has piled up quickly in his first full pro season. Across 63 games with Single-A Fredericksburg and High-A Wilmington, Willits has hit .287 with 17 doubles, three triples, 12 homers, 50 RBI, 54 walks, 37 stolen bases and 67 runs scored. That total puts him seventh in the Minor Leagues in runs scored and eighth in stolen bases.
He has been a category leader in Washington’s system almost everywhere you look. Willits leads the organization in runs scored, stolen bases and OPS at .940, while also tying for the lead in doubles with 17. He ranks second in on-base percentage at .418, walks with 54 and extra-base hits with 32, and sits fourth in slugging percentage at .522, batting average at .287 and hits with 72.
Willits also put together a 15-game hitting streak from May 13 to June 7 in Fredericksburg before earning a promotion to Wilmington. Since June 10, the first overall pick in the 2025 First-Year Player Draft out of Fort Cobb-Broxton High School in Oklahoma has tied for the South Atlantic League lead with six home runs and leads the league with 19 runs scored. Over that stretch, he ranks third in both OPS at 1.040 and slugging percentage at .621, with a minimum of 60 plate appearances.
Sime Jr. has been just as eye-catching in his own lane. The 19-year-old leads all of Minor League Baseball with 16.69 strikeouts per 9.0 innings this season, using 43.2 innings between Fredericksburg and Wilmington to pile up 81 strikeouts, second-most in Washington’s system. In 14 starts, he has posted a 3.71 ERA, held opponents to a .164 average and allowed only two home runs.
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