Astros Agree To Deal With First-Rounder Xavier Neyens
The Astros reached agreement with first-round pick Xavier Neyens last night, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2. The Washington high schooler receives a $4.1225MM bonus that matches the slot value for the 21st selection. Neyens had been committed to Oregon State.
Neyens ranked between 17th and 26th on pre-draft rankings from Baseball America, Keith Law of The Athletic, MLB Pipeline and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. He’s a 6’4″ infielder who projects as a third baseman. Evaluators credit Neyens with some of the best raw power in the class. He’s a patient hitter but faces questions about his elevated swing-and-miss rates. McDaniel wrote that Neyens has some similarities to Joey Gallo at the same age.
The Astros were confident in his ability to develop enough as a pure hitter to build their draft around him. Houston had one of the smaller bonus pools of any team, checking in at roughly $7.18MM. They can go up to 5% beyond that without facing additional penalties. Houston paid the luxury tax last year and signed Christian Walker, who had rejected a qualifying offer. They forfeited their second and fifth draft choices as a result. They gave up their second-round pick and the compensatory selection they’d received for Alex Bregman’s departure.
Neyens is one of two prep hitters whom the Astros selected within the top 10 rounds. They used their seventh-round pick on Jase Mitchell, a high school catcher from Delaware.
2025 MLB Draft, First Round Results
This year’s amateur draft is officially underway, and we’ll be updating this post throughout the night with every first-round selection. More details and scouting reports on all these young players are available in pre-draft rankings from Baseball America, Fangraphs, MLB Pipeline, The Athletic’s Keith Law, and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel. As well, Pipeline has the breakdown of the slot values assigned to each pick in the first 10 rounds, as well as the bonus pool money available to all 30 teams.
Here are the first-round selections….
- Washington Nationals: Eli Willits, SS, Fort Cobb-Broxton (OK)
- Los Angeles Angels: Tyler Bremner, RHP, UC Santa Barbara
- Seattle Mariners: Kade Anderson, LHP, LSU
- Colorado Rockies: Ethan Holliday, SS, Stillwater High School (OK)
- St. Louis Cardinals: Liam Doyle, LHP, Tennessee
- Pittsburgh Pirates: Seth Hernandez, RHP, Corona High School (CA)
- Miami Marlins: Aiva Arquette, SS, Oregon State
- Toronto Blue Jays: JoJo Parker, SS, Purvis High School (MS)
- Cincinnati Reds: Steele Hall, SS, Hewitt-Trussville High School (AL)
- Chicago White Sox: Billy Carlson, SS, Corona High School (CA)
- Athletics: Jamie Arnold, LHP, Florida State
- Texas Rangers: Gavin Fien, SS/3B, Great Oak High School (CA)
- San Francisco Giants: Gavin Kilen, SS/2B, Tennessee
- Tampa Bay Rays: Daniel Pierce, SS, Mill Creek High School (GA)
- Boston Red Sox: Kyson Witherspoon, RHP, Oklahoma
- Minnesota Twins: Marek Houston, SS, Wake Forest
- Chicago Cubs: Ethan Conrad, OF, Wake Forest
- Arizona Diamondbacks: Kayson Cunningham, SS, Johnson High School (TX)
- Baltimore Orioles: Ike Irish, C, Auburn
- Milwaukee Brewers: Andrew Fischer, 1B/3B, Tennessee
- Houston Astros: Xavier Neyens, SS/3B, Mount Vernon High School (WA)
- Atlanta Braves: Tate Southisene, SS, Basic High School (NV)
- Kansas City Royals: Sean Gamble, OF/2B, IMG Academy (FL)
- Detroit Tigers: Jordan Yost, SS, Sickles High School (FL)
- San Diego Padres: Kruz Schoolcraft, LHP, Sunset High School (OR)
- Philadelphia Phillies: Gage Wood, RHP, Arkansas
- Cleveland Guardians: Jace LaViolette, OF, Texas A&M
The first round officially consists of only 27 picks since the Mets, Yankees, and Dodgers all had their first-round selections dropped back by 10 slots. The three teams surpassed the third luxury tax tier in 2024, and thus their punishment included a 10-slot drop in their opening draft choice.
The 2025 draft is split up over two nights. Rounds 4-20 will take place tomorrow, while the draft’s first 105 picks will come off the board tonight. Those 105 picks consist of the first three proper rounds, the two Competitive Balance Rounds, and two sets of compensatory rounds (giving picks to teams who lost qualifying offer-rejecting free agents), and the Royals getting the 28th overall pick due to the Prospect Promotion Incentive. The evening’s 105th and final selection will be a compensatory pick to the Angels for not agreeing to a deal with 81st overall pick Ryan Prager.