Oregon baseball is only three weeks away from opening its season against Toledo on February 14th.
Outfielder Mason Neville is among those who return to the program after another deep run into the postseason, falling at the hands of Texas A&M in the Super Regional round. But 2024 served as a breakout season for Neville, as the former top-100 prospect hit 16 home runs, slugged .633, and got on base 36.9 percent of the time. It was a marked improvement from his freshman season at Arkansas, where he struck out 20 times in 27 at-bats and mustered only three hits in 19 games.
Neville soon became Oregon’s most fearsome hitter, as half of his hits went for extra bases, and the 6-foot-3 outfielder locked in over the final half of the season, crushing lefties and righties in tune to hitting six home runs across six games in May. Neville also showed up during postseason play, registering hits in five of seven postseason games, with two going for multi-hit performances.
Heading into the 2025 season, Neville was named to a preseason All-Big Ten team by Perfect Game, as his hype has never been higher.
And yet, Neville isn’t moved by these awards, his performance last year, or any of the past. Instead, he’s focused on the now and the upcoming. He’s part of a team that nearly all feature scars from the loss to the Aggies last June, a group that returns eight of nine starters and one hungry for the first trip to Omaha since 1954.
“Just really focusing on the day-to-day, I guess you can say. Just really focusing on getting one percent better and building off that,” said Neville. “Building off last season, the last half stretch, and just kind of being a leader for those guys this year, taking a new role. And we’re older now, so we have a lot of guys coming back, and so we’ve been through it a little bit, went to a Super Regional. And so yeah, just building off of that, and just looking to get one percent better every day.”
Focusing on one percent each day means putting in the extra reps for Neville. After the postseason, that immediately began with a trip to Cape Cod, where he played in the world-class Cape Cod League and briefly played with Chase Meggers, Oregon’s catcher.
Despite Neville not performing well on the Cape, the league comprises mainly the superior college baseball players in the nation. Still, it was another learning experience for a player who, heading into his junior season, will need to teach others what he’s learned.
While the 2025 season will only be his second with the program, Neville expects to move into a leadership role, a common occurrence in Mark Wasikowski-led programs but one that he won’t be taking alone.
“Definitely compared to last year,” said Neville of taking a leadership role. “We had a few guys come back, like [Grayson] Grinsell, he’s been here awhile. Jacob Walsh, Meggers, guys like that who help out. But definitely looking to help in that role a lot more.”
Neville has become a highly-watched draft prospect in his one season in Eugene. He now has the chance to increase that stock in the future if he can replicate his success again. He’ll seemingly be moving from corner outfielder to center fielder this year, following in the footsteps of excellent defensive players Colby Shade and Bryce Boettcher. It’s another opportunity to boost his stock for the future.
But just like the preseason accolades, Neville is focused on the upcoming season. The three weeks that separate talking and doing for the junior.
“Still a lot of work to do, and a lot of goals that we have for this team this year,” said Neville. “And so you get excited about it for a little bit, and then get focused again and get back to business.”
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