Chourio extending his winter ball tear in Venezuela

November 9th, 2023

accomplished so much in 2023, he could’ve done nothing all winter and still entered next year a short-list candidate to consider as the game’s top prospect. But Chourio isn’t taking the winter off. Milwaukee's top prospect is still playing -- and still raking.

Chourio, baseball’s No. 2 prospect per MLB Pipeline, is playing winter ball in his native Venezuela, where he starred in Aguilas del Zulia’s 8-5 win over Caribes de Anzoategui in the Venezuela Winter League on Wednesday. Chourio scored two runs and drove in another as part of a three-hit performance, continuing a strong start to the campaign for the 19-year-old center fielder.

Through nine games, he’s hitting .343/.410/.486 with 12 hits, eight runs and three extra-base hits (including a homer).

That’s pretty much par for the course for Chourio, who has followed exceptional Minor League seasons with stints in his native Venezuela the past three years.

In the meantime, he’s grown into one of the sport’s premier prospects, a prodigal combination of plus-power and 70-grade speed who hit 22 home runs and stole 44 bases while reaching Triple-A Nashville in 2023.

All told, Chourio batted .283/.338/.467 with 51 extra-base hits in 128 games between Double-A and Triple-A as a 19-year-old this summer. He became the first teenager to hit more than 20 homers and steal 30 or more bases while playing exclusively at the upper levels of the Minors since Delmon Young in 2005.

“It’s hard to put a timetable on it for a 19-year-old,” Brewers GM Matt Arnold told MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy in October. “But he has a chance to be really special.”