Mariners' Lazaro Montes: Elite power production for Nuts
Rotowire
Montes is slashing .361/.458/.770 with six home runs and a 19.4 percent strikeout rate in 15 games for Single-A Modesto.
One of the most feared sluggers in the lower levels of the minors, Montes put up a 150 wRC+ with a 25.3 percent strikeout rate and 22.6 percent walk rate in 37 games in the Arizona Complex League before getting promoted to the California League on Aug. 3. It's pretty easy to compare the 18-year-old Montes to Yordan Alvarez at the same age, as they are built similarly, have similar tools (at least 70-grade power and below-average speed) and both hail from Cuba.
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Mariners' Lazaro Montes: Feared by complex-league pitchers
Rotowire
Montes is hitting .300 with two home runs, five doubles, 15 walks and 16 strikeouts in his last 50 at-bats in the Arizona Complex League.
The hulking left-handed slugger had one hit and seven strikeouts in his first four games, but he has been locked in since then. Montes has multiple walks in four of his last nine games and has homered in two of his last six games.
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Mariners' Lazaro Montes: Flashing power in DSL
Rotowire
Montes is hitting .302/.425/.597 with six home runs, two steals and a 23:57 BB:K through 40 games in the Dominican Summer League.
The power is enticing, of course -- he's racked up 21 extra-base hits -- but the 17-year-old Cuban has struck out at a remarkably high clip (35.6 percent), which portends trouble once he faces higher-level pitching. Of course, being that he's still more than two months shy of his 18th birthday, there's a lot to like in Montes even though he's the definition of a high-variance prospect. Dynasty managers with an appetite for risk would do well to snatch him up.
