This story was excerpted from Mandy Bell’s Guardians Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
CLEVELAND -- When it comes to the Chourio Brothers, Jackson has stolen all the headlines. Rightfully so, considering he locked up an eight-year, $82 million deal before he even made his Major League debut. The Brewers’ top prospect is starting to make quite the name for himself at just 20 years old.
But Guardians fans, make sure you keep an eye on his younger brother.
Jaison Chourio is 18 years old and, like his older brother, is an outfielder who is tearing up the Minor Leagues. He was signed in 2022 out of Venezuela and is in his third season of professional ball. MLB Pipeline experts rank him No. 5 in the Guardians’ Top 30 prospects list and he’s continuing to prove why he’s so high on the list, despite being a few years away from his arrival to the big leagues.
“He’s so young,” Guardians assistant general manager James Harris said this spring. “What’s most impressive is that he doesn’t know he’s young.”
Chourio was part of the Guardians' Spring Breakout roster, playing alongside some of the best prospects in Cleveland’s system -- which largely included guys who were three or four years older than he was. But that didn’t stand in his way. Chourio was grateful for the opportunity to learn from future teammates, and he picked up a double in the inaugural event.
Because he’s become so accustomed to practicing alongside his older brother, playing with the older kids has always been normal for Jaison -- something that’s clearly played out in his favor.
“He just doesn’t know what he doesn’t know,” Harris said. “He doesn’t know that he shouldn’t be as confident. He doesn’t know that he shouldn’t be as athletic, as strong. That’s just who he is and that’s who he always has been. So, when he comes in, he eats up the training and he’s standing next to other guys who are two, three, four years older than him and he wants to compete.”
That attitude has translated into Chourio's 2024 season so far. In his first 22 at-bats at Single-A Lynchburg, he racked up eight hits with one homer. In his three games following that stretch, he drew seven walks. On Saturday, he hit his second home run of the season. And as his brother launched a long ball with the Brewers on the same night, it became the first time the two have each hit a home run on the same day as professional players.
As any pair of brothers do, the Chourio boys have always competed and pushed one another. For a younger sibling, it can be even more beneficial to have someone older, bigger and stronger forcing you to get better if you want to be able to compete. That's the foundation that Jaison created by playing alongside Jackson growing up. But the potential for his ceiling seems to be sky-high based on the work that he’s put in on his own since joining Cleveland’s organization.
Maybe we’re still a few years away from seeing Jaison’s name in the big leagues, but knowing what his brother has done so far, the Guardians can dream about what their 18-year-old outfielder may become.
“They’ve been battling and competing their entire lives,” Harris said. “So much so that at times, it’s hard to tell them apart from a training standpoint now. It’d be great if he ended up being at the same level.”