Montes goes where no one's gone before in Seattle with MONSTER homer

SEATTLE -- Lazaro Montes’ sheer power has now been officially felt in the Pacific Northwest.

The 6-foot-5, 250-pound designated hitter demolished Cal Quantrill’s 94 mph fastball into the right-center-field concourse of T-Mobile Park for a three-run blast to cut the Rangers’ lead to 4-3 in Tuesday's matchup at T-Mobile Park. It was Montes’ second homer since his Sept.1 callup -- and his first in Seattle.

Montes sent a fastball, grooved right down the middle of the zone, a Statcast-projected 474 feet. It was the farthest hit ball at T-Mobile Park in the Statcast Era, surpassing former Mariners catcher Mike Zunino, who hit one 470 feet against the Royals on June 29, 2018. The 116.1 mph exit velocity was also the highest for a Mariner since a 116.7 mph Julio Rodríguez single back on Aug. 1, 2023, and the highest on a homer since Rodríguez blasted a 117.2 mph shot off Kenley Jansen on Sept. 11, 2022.

Montes, Seattle’s No. 5 prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 56 overall, was immediately injected into the Mariners’ lineup upon being selected from Triple-A Tacoma as part of September roster expansions last week. In his debut, the 21-year-old went 2-for-4 at Boston with a solo home run, becoming the sixth Mariner to do so.

Montes, arguably Seattle’s most prominent power-hitting prospect of this era, hit 38 homers in the Minors this season between Double-A Arkansas and Tacoma; Tuesday’s shot was his 40th total this year.