The Cincinnati Reds have officially signed their fourth-round draft pick, Mason Neville, out of Oregon. Neville agreed to a deal worth \$697,500, slightly above the slot value of \$667,700 for the pick, as reported by MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo.
Mason Neville, an outfielder, earned first-team All-Big Ten honors after a stellar 2025 season with Oregon, where he posted a .290/.429/.724 slash line, racking up 42 extra-base hits and nine stolen bases in 57 games.
Interestingly, the Reds had previously selected Neville in the 18th round of the 2022 MLB Draft straight out of high school. However, he opted to attend Arkansas before eventually transferring to Oregon.
MLB.com notes that Neville has long caught the eye of scouts due to his impressive athleticism and offensive upside from the left side of the plate. Some even draw comparisons between Neville’s high school days and a young Cody Bellinger, a promising sign for his future development.
“The raw power is very real, and a year after hitting 16 homers with a 33.5 percent strikeout rate, Neville has jumped up boards by greatly cutting down his swing-and-miss, allowing him to get to that pop even more consistently for the 26 homers that tied for the NCAA Division I home run title. He can drive the ball gap-to-gap with plenty of pull power. He punishes fastballs and still struggles against softer stuff, but scouts are much more bullish overall that the bat will play at the next level.”
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