LINCOLN – An arm injury kept Nebraska pitcher Mason McConnaughey from showing what he could do this season. It didn’t stop him from becoming a high MLB draft pick Monday.

The Texas Rangers selected the Huskers right-hander in the fourth round (No. 115 overall) in what is perhaps the best-case scenario for the Topeka native who underwent Tommy John surgery in March. The slot value for the pick is $661,100 and McConnaughey has leverage in negotiating financial terms because he has two years of college eligibility remaining.

Reality hit like a comebacker for McConnaughey, who got the news from his advisor three picks before his name popped while watching with his family in Kansas.

“It kind of all happened so fast,” McConnaughey said. “Then, boom, they made the selection. Goosebumps – it was all pretty surreal. I don’t know if it’s exactly set in yet but super, super excited and blessed.”

McConnaughey becomes the seventh Husker to go in the top four rounds of the draft under coach Will Bolt after the program also produced at least one such choice in 2021, 2023 and 2024. He expected to be drafted sometime on the draft’s second day, though the range of possibilities was wide.

The Rangers had been among the interested teams who met with him before the draft.

The starter hadn’t officially decided by Monday afternoon whether he would sign – “Just enjoying the moment because this only happens once,” he said – though he spoke like someone likely to move on in the days ahead. Only four total players chosen in the first 10 rounds of last year’s draft did not turn pro.

If McConnaughey indeed takes the next step, he said, he has NU pitching coach Rob Childress and the Huskers to thank.

“Nebraska changed my career, to be honest with you,” McConnaughey said. “It helped me mature more; it helped me find that switch and being able to flip it when I get out there on the mound. All the support staf, all the teammates, they made me who I am today. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them.”

McConnaughey nearly didn’t play college baseball, not receiving a chacne to compete anywhere until Cloud County C.C. offered a walk-on spot in the winter of his prep senior year. He broke out there and later at nebraska in 2024 when he posted a 3.45 ERA while emerging as a weekend starter. He was a preseason All-America choice this spring but logged just 13 1/3 innings with a 6.08 ERA on his way to a medical redshirt. He was also the first Husker named to the Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List since 2016.

The pitcher has been rehabbing in Lincoln with a general timetable of returning to the mound for live action sometime next March. Texas didn’t let the injury stop it from investing a high pick, similar to how Atlanta drafted NU pitcher Spencer Schwellenbach in the second round in 2021 even knowing he would require Tommy John surgery.

Twenty-seven MLB franchises have selected a Husker since the last time Texas did (marc Sagmoen in 1993). The only current club to never take a Nebraska player is the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Also of note from the first 10 rounds, former Nebraska infielder Core Jackson went in the fifth round (No. 164 overall) to the New York Yankees. The Utah senior shortstop – who started 36 games for the Huskers as a freshman in 2022 – was an all-Big 12 first-team choice this spring after hitting .364 with 12 homers, 19 doubles and 20 steals.