Heads up in RF seats! Astros' 2025 first-rounder scorches first pro homer
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It’s not often that seats beyond the right-field fence are in “keep your head on a swivel range” but then again, pro ball had yet to see a Xavier Neyens home run before.
The Astros’ 2025 first-round pick whistled his first career roundtripper in the fifth inning of Single-A Fayetteville's 6-3 loss to Charleston on Saturday night, and it was a true frozen rope that took almost no time to get out. The Segra Stadium Trackman device picked it up at 116 mph off the bat.
While not official, the reported exit velocity of Neyens’ homer would rank tops among all Major League Astros not named Yordan Alvarez during the Statcast era. (Alvarez has eight such homers in that span.) Houston’s No. 2 prospect added a line-drive single in the seventh, a shot back up the middle against funky-tossing lefty Bryce Shaffer (Rays).
The multihit performance was a step in the right direction for Neyens, who entered the night 2-for-18 with 11 strikeouts through his first five games as a pro. Some evaluators who saw him during his Washington prep days were concerned about the hit tool and how it would translate to pro ball. But what was never in question was the pop.
Neyens is one of just 10 ranked prospects to possess a 65-grade-or-higher power tool. He’s right there alongside Spencer Jones (Yankees) and Lazaro Montes (Mariners), both of whom hit 32+ homers during the 2025 Minor League season, a glimpse into the 19-year-old’s extra-base upside.
The 21st overall pick in the 2025 Draft has drawn some hefty comps in a very short window: Joey Gallo. Corey Seager. Austin Riley. (All three of those players have recorded 115+ mph exit velocities, it should be mentioned.) Before he even saw a pitch in the pro ranks, Neyens ranked No. 2 on the Astros’ Top 30 Prospects list.
“The work ethic, the discipline, the power, the bat speed, it’s tools galore for him,” Astros director of player development Sam Niedorf told MLB Pipeline’s Sam Dykstra in March.
Drafted as a shortstop, Neyens has split his early time between the premium spot and the hot corner. He’s hit second in Fayetteville’s lineup in all six games right behind Kevin Alvarez, Houston’s No. 1 prospect, who is skipping over the Rookie-level Florida Complex League entirely.
It’s a formidable one-two punch for the Woodpeckers, one that’s sure to bring a ton of loud contact as the spring and summer unfold.