Lazaro Montes enjoying homer barrage at Double-A -- and you have to see his latest
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As the calendar flips to June and the weather continues to heat up, so does the bat of Lazaro Montes.
The Mariners' No. 4 prospect continued his torrid start to the month Friday night in Arkansas' 11-2 win over Northwest Arkansas at Dickey-Stephens Ballpark, as the outfielder delivered a 3-for-4 night and swatted a grand slam for his organization-leading 18th long ball of the season. The dinger gives Montes six in his first seven games played in June.
The big night began for MLB’s No. 27 prospect in the second, when he lined a first-pitch fastball into the right-center gap for a double.
After punching out in his second at-bat of the night in the fourth, Montes strolled to the dish in the bottom of the sixth with the bases loaded. With the count even at 2-2, right-hander Drew Beam (KC No. 10) threw the lefty a slider down and in. Montes responded by dropping the barrel on the offering and showcased his 65-grade power by launching a towering grand slam over the wall in right.
Per the in-stadium Trackman data, the titanic blast logged an exit velocity of 113 mph.
To tie a bow around his already impressive Tuesday night performance, the Cuba native laced a two-strike, two-out RBI single to center in the eighth, pushing his RBI total to five, his second-highest single-game total for the 2026 season. (Behind only his monstrous three-homer, eight-RBI performance back on May 2.)
Producing with runners in scoring position has been a consistent aspect of Montes' game in 2026. In 57 at-bats with RISP, he's hitting .316 with 10 extra-base hits.
Following a month of May in which he posted nine homers and 24 RBIs over 26 games, MLB’s No. 6 outfield prospect has found a way to one-up himself to open June. Over his first seven games of the new month, Montes is 13-for-30 with six home runs, 15 RBIs and a 1.600 OPS.
The 6-foot-5 outfielder signed with Seattle as an international free agent for $2.5 million back in the winter of 2022, and over the past three seasons, his consistent production and considerable power has helped him climb the rungs of Seattle's system.