Four-sport athlete Chase Mason is ready to focus in on one sport
VIBORG, S.D. (BVM) — Last November, Chase Mason officially signed a letter of intent to play baseball at the University of Nebraska following the end of his senior year at Viborg-Hurley High School.
“That moment was super exciting just to get it written down with pen and paper,” Mason said.
That ended what had been a crazy year for Mason as he had been recruited in both football and baseball by Division I programs and had begun to get approached about being drafted in the 2021 MLB draft.
“It was a lot right away, but looking back at it it was good for me,” Mason said.
For Mason, his recruiting began quickly and only picked up from there.
“Definitely my junior year of football that kind of opened up my eyes because that was when the whole recruiting thing started,” Mason said.
As a junior, Mason helped lead the Cougars to a state championship in nine-man football while also setting records at the quarterback position. Mason threw for 2,218 yards and rushed for another 1,159 with 45 total touchdowns. In the state championship game, he broke South Dakota state title game records with 416 total yards and six touchdowns.
That season made him the second-best recruit out of South Dakota according to 247sports and put him on the radar of many FBS schools. He began to be recruited by Wyoming, Fresno State, South Dakota and South Dakota State.
“It was very eye-opening,” Mason said.
Following his football season, Mason received third team all-state honors for basketball and would have competed in track and field had the season not been canceled due to COVID-19. However, during this time he was still being recruited for football and soon baseball would enter into the mix. Mason’s athletic ability, physical attributes and raw talent would quickly make him an intriguing baseball prospect.
Mason is a 6-foot-4, 215-pound outfielder/pitcher and he’s become the No. 1 prospect from South Dakota according to Perfect Game and the No. 73 prospect in the nation according to Prep Baseball Report.
Playing for the Harrisburg legion team last summer, Mason went 6-1 as a pitcher with 84 strikeouts in 50 innings, a 0.97 ERA and a fastball that is already in the low 90s. At the plate, he can hit the ball over 400 feet and has the raw talent to become a dangerous offensive weapon.
Even with these impressive numbers, Mason himself says he came late to the baseball recruiting party, something he attributes to his multisport-athlete lifestyle.
“I haven’t played a whole lot of baseball in my life. I’ve only played it during the summertime,” Mason said.
It’s for that reason he wasn’t noticed right away but also why scouts are so excited about him. They see a kid who is already a good player but could be even better if he were to focus all his time into just baseball.
Although Mason seriously considered football as an option, he eventually decided to move forward with baseball.
“Ultimately baseball just felt the best for me,” Mason said.
It’s the sport that he believed he could go the furthest in, but more than that, it was a sport he has always loved.
“Baseball, I love doing that every single day and I can see myself doing that every single day so I enjoy that the most,” Mason said.
He still had a decision to make about where to attend college. Before deciding on Nebraska he had whittled his choices down to Missouri, Wichita State, Minnesota, South Dakota State and Nebraska. In the end, he chose Nebraska, joining a recruiting class for the Cornhuskers that was already ranked in the top 40 in the nation. It’s a group of guys that is excited about the future of Nebraska baseball.
“It’s always been my dream to play in a College World Series and that’s been the goal for this class that’s coming in,” Mason said. “We think we’re going to have a shot.”
However, Mason might not be a part of that as there is still a real possibility that he does not attend college if he is drafted in the 2021 MLB draft. Mason has said he will address that if it happens. For now he is just focusing on recovering from an ACL injury he sustained early in the football season and preparing for Nebraska.
“Everything is baseball from here on out,” Mason said.
As he makes that shift to just one sport, Mason focuses on his future in baseball he realizes how special this is and what it means for his home state of South Dakota.
“Being from South Dakota playing baseball, you don’t really see many guys coming from here and doing things like that,” Mason said.
Mason takes pride in being part of the growth of baseball in the state of South Dakota and knows that more will follow. He hopes to continue to be someone young South Dakotans can look to as he continues to push forward in his career.
One thing is for certain, though: Mason and anyone who has seen him knows his career is far from over.
“I feel like I can go as far as I want,” Mason said. “Just have to put my head down and work hard.”
