Jesús Montero, a one-time top prospect for the Yankees who played five seasons in the Majors, died this weekend at age 35, the Yankees announced on Sunday. Montero was reportedly involved in a motorbike crash earlier this month in which he sustained major internal injuries.
Montero was ranked the No. 1 Yankees prospect and No. 9 overall prospect by MLB Pipeline in 2011. After posting an .814 OPS and starting 87 games at catcher that season for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Montero was promoted to the Yankees in September.
Initially, the 21-year-old Montero lived up to the hype, batting .328/.406/.590 in the final month of the 2011 season and looking like a potential middle-of-the-order fixture for the Yankees for years to come.
The Yankees, however pulled off a stunning trade with the Mariners prior to the 2012 season, sending Montero and pitcher Héctor Noesí to Seattle for pitchers Jose Campos and Michael Pineda.
Montero hit 15 home runs in 2012 but appeared in just 73 big league games after that because of injuries and a suspension for violating MLB's performance-enhancing drug policy, finishing his big league career in 2015. He had stints in the Blue Jays and Orioles organizations but did not appear in the Majors for those clubs. He most recently played winter ball in Venezuela in 2020-21.
Montero was signed by the Yankees as an international free agent for $1.6 million and eventually became what many believed was a can't-miss prospect. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Montero "may well be the best player I've ever traded" following the deal with Seattle.
Montero finished his career with a .253 average and 28 home runs in 226 games.