The Future is Now! Randy Arozarena Believes in Lazaro Montes Stardom, and you Should Too
The Seattle Mariners featured some of the most promising prospects in baseball in the first week of spring training.
The Mariners began big league camp with seven players ranked in Baseball America’s and MLB Pipeline’s top 100 prospects lists. And many of those minor leaguers have performed well so far.
One of those prospects is outfielder Lazaro Montes. And one of Seattle’s stars is the latest to buy into the hype for the 2024 California League MVP.
Mariners left fielder Randy Arozarena trained with Montes in the offseason in Miami. And Arozarena had heaps of praise for Montes in an article written by The Seattle Times Sean Quinton:
“I think he’s going to be one of the best at this game very soon,” Arozarena said this week via Mariners interpreter Freddy Llanos. “ … If he continues on the right path, he’s going to be in the majors really soon, and he can become a star if he continues that consistency that he’s been doing.”
Montes talked about training with Arozarena earlier in big league camp. Montes said he picked up several tips from his fellow Cuban. Montes also complimented how well Arozarena has represented himself, and their native country, in the major leagues.
“One of the things for us as Cubans that we carry is how competitive we are,” Montes said via a translator. “And to see [Arozarena] bring that to the major leagues, that’s something I’ve really admired. Because bringing something from our culture to this league, it’s special.”
So far in spring training, Montes has gone 2-for-5 with three runs and three RBIs, which all came off one home run.
Montes is projected for a 2026 call-up, according to MLB Pipeline. Arozarena is under contract through 2026.
If Montes makes his major league debut when he’s projected to, there’s a chance he and Arozarena can be major league teammates together.
