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    Cincinnati Reds 3rd Round Draft Pick: Mason Morris – RHP

    Doug Gray 30

    The Cincinnati Reds have selected right-handed pitcher Mason Morris out of Ole Miss with their 3rd round pick in the 2025 Major League Baseball Draft.

    Mason Morris Scouting Report

    Height: 6′ 4″ | Weight: 225 lbs.

    Bats: Right | Throws: Right | Position: RHP

    Highest Ranking: 50 – The Athletic

    A reliever in all three of his seasons with Mississippi, Morris got stretched out in the bullpen in 2025 and found a lot more success than he has in the past. His ERA was 5.87 as a freshman in limited action and then jumped to 6.55 in 2024 while pitching in 23 games. This season that dropped to 3.29 as he threw 54.2 innings in 19 games out of the bullpen while striking out 78 batters.

    Some teams think he could be a starter even though he didn’t start in college. He’s got the size and stuff to potentially make it work. A 4-pitch guy, he brings a fastball, slider, curveball, and cutter to the table. His control improved quite a bit this season, but is still a tad below-average.

    Fastball: A pitch that works in the mid-90’s and touched 99 during the season.

    Cutter: A low 90’s offering that is a plus pitch.

    Slider: An above-average pitch that works in the upper 80’s.

    Curve: An above-average pitch with late 12-6 break.

    It seems like the Reds are going to give Morris a chance to start based on what Scouting Director Joe Katuska said after day one. If he’s going to stick as a starter he’s likely going to have to use his splitter a bit more than he did out of the bullpen in college.

    Mason Morris College Stats

    Mason Morris College Stats

    Mason Morris Video

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    This could be a real interesting pick. In 2025 Mason Morris was an entirely different pitcher than he had been in the past. He changed his arm slot, gained several miles per hour on his stuff, added a cutter that’s now his best pitch, showed much better control than he has in the past, and took on a bigger workload. The difference was night-and-day from the first two years in college to the third year.

    There are some things he’ll need to work on, but the floor feels pretty high with him as he projects well as a reliever. The ceiling is quite high, too, particularly for a 3rd round pick.

    Scouting Director Joe Katuska on Mason Morris

    “Mason is a converted guy. He was in there playing a position for a couple of years. They saw the arm strength started him on the mound last year and we really saw the progression this year. He was used primarily out of the bullpen but we think it’s a starting pitching profile. He has the size, the athleticism, the delivery and the pitch mix to do that. He was lengthened out significantly in the bullpen and maintained the stuff and got better over the course of the season. Fastball, cutter, slider, splitter mix from him. Think there’s just a lot of untapped upside.”

    On the broadcast they compared his slider to that of Chase Burns

    “I like that if that comparison is right on the broadcast I’m pretty happy about it. They were talking about the similarities between it, that wasn’t something we necessarily zeroed in on. We were looking at the whole pitch mix, the athlete, the whole package there. He’s a big boy, he throws hard, and he was up to the moment whenever Ole Miss seemed to need a guy to come out of the pen to throw some length for them to win a game them he was the guy.”

    You can click here for full coverage for all of the 2025 Cincinnati Reds Draft picks.

    Doug Gray
    Doug Gray is the owner and operator of this website and has been running it since 2006 in one variation or another.

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    30 Responses

      1. Nothing wrong with upside in round 3. Lorenzen was a college reliever turned MiL starter then MLB starter then reliever then starter. If he had blossomed a little sooner rather than later the Reds would have benefited nicely.

        1. Unfortunately when the Reds have taken a reliever and made them a starter it really hasn’t worked. Tanner Rainey, a mess as a starter, back to relief, Tony Cingrani, went back to relief. Sam LeCure went back to relief. Lorenzen much better in relief. Give the college coaches some credit. There is a reason why these guys were college relief pitchers.

        2. Don’t give the college coaches too much credit, MK. Tennessee’s coach, by all accounts a successful one, gave Chase Burns all of 8 starts in 2023 as a sophomore, using him 10 times out of the bullpen. He transferred to Wake so he could start.

        3. Yep, I was just about to say the college coaches mess up sometimes too. Burns seems to have made the right decision going to Wake.

        4. Check all our college draft picks this year and few stayed at the same college they began with. With NIL college sports is a different world.
          As far a Tennessee went they were #1 in the polls with some pretty quality pitchers and pitching we’re aburns was most valuable in a bullpen and spot starter roll.

        5. Andrew Abbott has provided an exception. Guess it matters when they convert as he only started one year in college

    3. OK… sounds intriguing I guess. I’m happy your write-up sounds optimistic, Doug.

      Keith Law likes him, for whatever that’s worth… has Morris ranked #50 in the draft and calling him “one of the most underrated prospects in the draft.”

      But now I’d really like some HITTING to get excited about please, Reds!

    4. Weirdly, Keith Law (the Athletic) has the 3 guys that we drafted at #9, #51, and #83, ranked #36(!!), #45, and #50, respectively.

      1. Rankings for MLB draft prospects are all over the board and should be taken with a grain of salt.

        For instance, the Detroit Tigers selected the following players (pick#, MLB rank #):

        24 (50)
        34 (219)
        62 (121)
        98 (107)

        One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.

      2. Keith Law is never right. BA had Hall at 16. I figure he would not have been that low if the HS shortstop class wasn’t so strong.His comp was Trea Turner which isn’t too bad.

        1. This is the problem with all the rankings. It is almost impossible to see 25% of the top 200 amateur players in the U.S., much less all of them. They are largely going on iffy video and second-hand reports of statcast-type data. It is even more impossible for an outsider to assess intangibles like work ethic and hunger.

          The ratings are just opinions, done by guys with limited information.

          Johnny Bench and Joey Votto were taken in the second round; Albert Pujols was drafted in the 13th round. There are plenty of 1-1s who didn’t turn into much; the Reds played against Mickey Moniak yesterday. Moniak has 1.1 bWAR, taken just ahead of Nick Senzel, who had -3.1 bWAR.

          It’s a guessing game, even for the scouting directors whose full-time job is keeping up with this stuff. Rickey Henderson was taken 96th overall (4th round) in 1976; the Reds used the 95th pick to avoid Henderson and select a guy who didn’t sign but instead turned out to be my college roommate.

          1. Things are a lot different today than when Votto was taken, which was a lot different than when Bench was taken. When Bench was taken you really were relying on your local scouts. When Votto was taken you had travel ball and national events – though both were far less of what they are today, they existed and it did give everyone a chance to see the top guys face more than their local opponents where they might not see another guy who was going to play professionally.

            It’s still a bit of a risky situation and there’s more risk for absolutely missing in baseball than there is in the NBA or NFL, no doubt. But teams get it right more now than they used to thanks to stuff like national events, video, statcast-like data. In a different sense, too, they get it right with pitchers more often simply because a blown elbow doesn’t end a career these days. It’s not 100% recovery rate, but it used to be like 1% recovery rate.

    5. Anthony eyanson our if lay was there for the taking at this pick. He had a great college World Series. And he is a starter, not a reliever.

      Instead he went to the Red Sox 4 picks later. One to watch I’m afraid.

      I hope mason can develop as a starter and move quickly.

    6. I think with only 54.2 IP this year that Miller could probably join Daytona and be part of their tandem starter system. Have him go 2-4 IP and get him up to somewhere in the 80-90 IP range to go along with his college workload and have him ready to handle a full minor league starting workload next year if we are going to try him as a starter.

      1. I like this idea.

        They’ll probably have him go to Goodyear for whatever it is they do (orientation?). But, I agree, let’s get him started.

        They really need a rookie league for post draft. The informal league and instructional camp are ok but league play is better.

        I suppose Lo-A is like an Advanced Rookie league in some ways, with some ACL kids and older draftees getting in games.

      2. The problem with this plan is that he probably hasn’t pitched in two months. This is why the draft timing SUCKS these days. You essentially make it so that nearly everyone drafted can’t get any real time on the field in the year in which they are drafted because teams just aren’t going to ramp guys back up after such a long layoff.

        1. I mean, why not ramp them back up? There is still 2+ months of the season left and then fall instructionals being that, and then give them another two month break before you start getting ready for spring training. If they were just injured in that time but now 100% healthy, would they just punt the season? Fire it up.

        2. The colleges play fall baseball with camps followed by a week or two of scrimmages (typically very hard to find stats, results). The current timing of the draft would fit nicely with a fall league. Doesn’t MLB run fall instructionals with scrimmages for new draft picks?

          1. Yes, but for the most part you don’t see a lot of the pitchers out there. I want to say that Rhett Lowder didn’t even pitch in it in 2023 and that Chase Burns threw something like 3 innings last year. It’s not a thing where they really all just get out there and play. It’s mostly position guys from the draft mixed in with pitchers from the organization who were there all season with a handful of innings from the draft picks.

        3. Thanks for the explanation. So, the timing of the draft may not matter if teams aren’t willing to have their new pitchers pitch, at least not their best new pitchers, until the following season. Sounds like they believe it’s best to get them on a pro conditioning program before pitching. I can’t imagine that the Red’s strength and conditioning program is that much better than those at the power conferences. Those schools invest a ton of $$$ into their sports and usually have strong Kinesiology departments that work with the teams as well.

    8. We have pick 9 of round 4, so here are 9 names that I would like to see for pick 114:

      Mason Neville, OF, Oregon

      Jack Bauer, LHP, IL HS

      Henry Ford, OF/1B, Virginia

      Gavin Turley, OF, Oregon State

      William Patrick, OF, LA HS

      Trent Grindlinger, C, CA HS

      Sean Youngerman, RHP, Oklahoma State

      Pico Kohn, LHP, Mississippi State

      Blaine Bullard, OF, TX HS

      1. Just going to reply here but for some reason your comments keep being sent to the moderation queue. I’m trying to stay on top of it, but today might be one where I don’t have a bunch of time between picks so if it keeps happening it might not be a quick approval process.

    9. I assume the instructional league is essential for pitchers, they are acquainted with all the current tech for analyzing pitches, get to learn! acquire the needed muscle, better use of the time than a few games on the mound in the last two months.

      Personally, I’ve wondered why a player wouldn’t move close to their team’s practice facility and show up daily. Always pleased to read about those that train with players already in the minors.

    10. It seems Reds take a shot on Morris to be a starter. Anyway, maybe the risk is he could wind up a kind of Zach Maxwell version with better repertoire and control with a little less velo

    11. I’d be curious to know what kind of extension he’s getting because it doesn’t seem like a lot. 3rd round and beyond are more project type players and this is certainly one. I’m not seeing a reliever unless the development team can find some more untapped velo, and not a fan of the big loopy curve either. Sort of a tweener. He’s gonna test how well the Reds can develop.

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