Are the Mariners looking to trade Lazaro Montes, one of their top prospects?
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The Seattle Mariners have had a busy offseason already, despite not pulling offany blockbuster deals at this year's winter meetings. While they have been negotiating to bring back third baseman and DH Eugenio Suarez, they also lost out on last year's second sacker, Jorge Polanco.
While the ideal scenario would be to sign a quality infield replacement, the Mariners are in a position now where they would have to make a deal. To fill that void at the keystone, they have looked closely at Brendan Donovan of the St. Louis Cardinals, a career .282 hitter who is under contract for the next two years. It would take multiple young players, or merely one, BIG one, to make the deal go down... someone who has risen quickly through the system based on sheer power.
Enter 21-year-old Lazaro Montes, considered Seattle's second-best hitting prospect after Colt Emerson. In 2025, Montes finished with 32 home runs, the third-most in all of MiLB. And while he's not an adept fielder and doesn't have much speed, his bat has made him a valuable marketing chip if the M's decide to make a major move.
Lazaro Montes is already a feared power threat
Lázaro Montes is arguably the most physically imposing prospect the Mariners have, earning the nickname of 'Baby Yordan' (after veteran slugger Yordan Alvarez), because of his 100+ mph exit velocity. Standing 6'5" and weighing over 250 pounds, Montes is already a man among boys in the Minors. He's projected by many scouts as a consistent 30-homer hitter at the big-league level.
His strikeout rate spiked to nearly 38% after a promotion to Double-A Arkansas, suggesting he needs time to modify his approach and adjustments at the plate. As mentioned previously, he won't steal a ton of bases, and he's likely more qualified to be a designated hitter. But? Pretty much anything that would get his power and productivity into the lineup regularly would be the proper strategy.
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With his enormous upside, Seattle general manager Justin Hollander doesn't sound like he would just give a crown jewel like Montes away, and although the team did ship out emerging catcher Henry Ford, it seems as if the M's executive realizes he can't totally abandon the team's upcoming youth movement. The future of the franchise will lie in the next generation's hands.
“It’s never going to be perfect. You’re never going to have the team that you want to have in September in April,” Hollander told Seattle Sports in late November. “Young players bring uncertainty over time, and giving them the runway to show who they can be, to prove that they can or can’t fill a role, and then being willing to go out and adjust along the way, I think is important.”
