7 hours ago
With the 114th overall pick in the 4th round, the Cincinnati Reds select OF Mason Neville out of Oregon University.
BIG power left handed college bat with good speed and arm strength. Some scouts think he can stick at CF.
He does have some swing and miss concerns, but he cut his strikeout rate by 10% from his sophomore to his junior season (from 33.5% to 23.5%). Tied for the Division I lead in home runs with 26 and had a line of .290/.429/.724/1.152 last season.
He also walks a fair amount. He has a 16.67% walk rate through 3 seasons in college, with an 18.9% walk rate this past season.
He was a consensus top 50 prospect in the entire draft. I was listening to some Reds draft coverage yesterday and he was mentioned as one of the best available players going into day 2. The analysts said that him not being taken in the first 3 rounds may be an indication that he's considering returning to college for his senior season and thus would be an overslot draftee.
The Reds probably went underslot for their 3rd and possibly 2nd round choices so that they could afford to go overslot to secure Neville. We'll see how the numbers work out.
Fun fact: In 2022, when Neville was coming out of high school, the Reds threw an 18th round selection at him in case he chose to bypass college. He obviously didn't sign, so this is the Reds' second crack at drafting and signing him. I doubt they'd do it a second time unless they're confident he'll sign this time.
BIG power left handed college bat with good speed and arm strength. Some scouts think he can stick at CF.
He does have some swing and miss concerns, but he cut his strikeout rate by 10% from his sophomore to his junior season (from 33.5% to 23.5%). Tied for the Division I lead in home runs with 26 and had a line of .290/.429/.724/1.152 last season.
He also walks a fair amount. He has a 16.67% walk rate through 3 seasons in college, with an 18.9% walk rate this past season.
He was a consensus top 50 prospect in the entire draft. I was listening to some Reds draft coverage yesterday and he was mentioned as one of the best available players going into day 2. The analysts said that him not being taken in the first 3 rounds may be an indication that he's considering returning to college for his senior season and thus would be an overslot draftee.
The Reds probably went underslot for their 3rd and possibly 2nd round choices so that they could afford to go overslot to secure Neville. We'll see how the numbers work out.
Fun fact: In 2022, when Neville was coming out of high school, the Reds threw an 18th round selection at him in case he chose to bypass college. He obviously didn't sign, so this is the Reds' second crack at drafting and signing him. I doubt they'd do it a second time unless they're confident he'll sign this time.
![[Image: oN5QAdY.png]](https://i.imgur.com/oN5QAdY.png)
