Mariners’ Spring Cuts Offer a Sobering Reminder for Lazaro Montes

The Mariners made another round of spring roster cuts on March 11, and while none of the names should stun anybody, one of them does carry a little extra weight. Seattle optioned right-handers Blas Castaño and Domingo González to Triple-A Tacoma, while reassigning Tyler Cleveland, Lazaro Montes, Michael Morales, Spencer Packard, and Nick Raposo to minor league camp.

The bubble shrinking is no surprise at this point. The fun spring stories get sorted into their actual timelines, and teams stop pretending every interesting prospect has a real shot to break camp. For Montes, this always felt like where things were headed. Still, it lands as a sobering reminder because a lot of people wanted this spring to look louder than it did.

Minor league award winners are here. Lazaro Montes and Julio having some fun. pic.twitter.com/DJMr8sIo9t
— Shannon Drayer (@shannondrayer) September 23, 2025

Mariners’ Spring Cuts Reveal the Hard Truth About Lazaro Montes’ Timeline

This is not a sign the Mariners suddenly feel differently about Montes. It is more of a reality check about where he is in the process. Montes came into the year as one of the organization’s premium prospects, ranked No. 4 in Seattle’s system by MLB Pipeline’s 2026 preseason list, with an ETA of 2027. Pipeline also has him carrying the best raw power in the system.

That is why the spring stat line feels a little flat. In 25 Cactus League at-bats, Montes hit just .160 with a .432 OPS, no homers, one RBI, and no steals. That was never going to be enough to make the Mariners have a real conversation about pushing his timeline.

To be fair, the spring was not completely empty. Montes had a two-hit game against the Royals on March 10 and drove in a run with a double. He also legged out a hustle double against the Brewers on March 8, and even recorded a hit off Mason Miller in the spring training opener. So it was not like he walked through camp looking overmatched every single day. There were flashes. But not enough of them to make this feel like a leap.

Montes is still just 21, and he is coming off a 2025 season where he hit 32 home runs while moving across High-A Everett and Double-A Arkansas. The big picture has not changed. He is still one of the most important bats in the system, and still one of the more fascinating long-term bets in the organization.

What this cut really does is reinforce the more realistic clock. Montes was never supposed to break camp with Seattle this year. If anything, this season was always more about returning to Double-A, settling in, and showing he can turn enormous raw power into more complete, game-ready production against upper-level pitching. A 2027 arrival remains the cleaner target anyway, especially with Randy Arozarena under club control through this season and Victor Robles carrying a club option for 2027. Montes doesn’t need to be rushed just because fans are ready to dream on the power.

Still, Montes did not use this spring to bang down the door. And that’s fine. The Mariners were never asking him to. But the dream is still for him to become a real middle-of-the-order force, and that timeline was always going to take a little more patience than one month in Arizona.