On Wednesday, the Single-A leagues announced their All-Star teams and award winners for the 2024 seasons. Let’s look at the three international prospects who brought home season-long hardware.
Lazaro Montes, Modesto Nuts: California League MVP
Montes generated a lot of hype when he signed with the Seattle Mariners for $2.5 million in the 2021-2022 signing period, and he has met those lofty expectations. At just 19 years old, the Cuban outfielder dominated the California League with a .309/.411/.527 slashline, homering 13 times and 72 RBI in just 65 games. Those totals still ranked in the top three in the league despite the fact that he was promoted to High-A at the end of June.
Though the Mariners have one of the best collections of minor league position player prospects in baseball, no player can match Montes’ raw power, which MLB.com describes as having legitimate 80-grade potential. With exit velocities approaching 110 miles per hour and a strikeout rate that has been cut down below 25 percent, Montes looks like he can be the power bat the Mariners have been looking for.
Jaison Chourio, Lynchburg Hillcats: Carolina League MVP
Though his brother Jackson has been grabbing headlines this season during his pursuit of the National League Rookie of the Year, Jaison looks like a future MLB star in his own right. The switch-hitting outfielder took home the honors as the best player in the Carolina League by getting on base at a .414 clip and swiping 44 bags. What makes those league-leading totals even more remarkable is that he had played just five games of full-season ball entering 2024 and was one of the youngest players in the league at just 19 years old.
Already possessing elite baserunning, defense, and plate discipline skills, the next step for Chourio will be to add some more power, as he hit just five home runs in 98 games this season. Still, Chourio has all the makings of a future MLB star and, along with fellow international prospect Travis Bazzana, will headline the Guardians skyrocketing farm system in 2025.
Nestor Lorant, Daytona Cayugas: Florida State League Pitcher of the Year
Perhaps no pitching prospect in baseball blew away preseason expectations quite like Lorant. After posting a combined 5.02 ERA between rookie ball and Low-A last season, the 22-year-old righty was simply untouchable in 2024, earning Florida State League Pitcher of the Year with a microscopic 1.44 ERA and 99 strikeouts in 71.2 innings.
The key to Lorant’s ascension was improved control, as he cut his walks per nine innings from 6.0 all the way down to 2.3. He was especially spectacular after the Cayugas moved him to the rotation at the beginning of July, as he posted a 1.86 ERA in seven starts. From Hunter Greene to Chase Burns, the Reds have had no shortage of high-powered arms enter the system in recent years, but Lorant has proven that he should not be overlooked.
Photo Credit: Jaison Chourio #8 of the Lynchburg Hillcats poses for a portrait prior to a game against the August GreenJackets at Bank of the James Stadium on June 15, 2024 in Lynchburg, Virginia. (Photo by Rodger Wood/Diamond Images via Getty Images)
