Lazaro Montes brings Mariners something they were missing

Just last week, there were plenty of Seattle Mariners fans hoping the club would bring back third baseman Eugenio Suárez after he was placed on waivers by the Cincinnati Reds.

There was more to Lazaro Montes’ big debut than his HR

The veteran has struggled at the plate through much of this season, but his infectious personality and the “Good Vibes” that come with it seemed like a quality Seattle’s clubhouse could use amid a frustrating season that’s seen the club perform well below expectations.

The Mariners passed on Suárez – as did the 28 other teams who could have claimed him for the roughly $3 million remaining on his one-year, $15 million contract – but they may have still ended up getting the vibes guy they needed in the form of rookie outfielder Lazaro Montes.

Montes, who was promoted to the majors when rosters expanded to 28 players on Tuesday, took little time to impress in his big-league debut. The slugging lefty bat worked a walk in his first at-bat and then came through a single for his first career hit in his next turn.

Then, the 21 year old put on display the tool he has that’s unlike nearly any other prospect: his prodigious power. In his third career at-bat, Montes sent a home run over the 17-foot wall in straightaway center field at Fenway Park on a pitch that it didn’t look like he got all of.

“As a hitter, it’s just so hard to show up and just be comfortable like that, but my goodness did Laz look comfortable,” Yahoo Sports’ Jordan Shusterman told Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy on Wednesday. “And for him to kind of give you the whole experience, for him to give you that homer to center field and then to look like he’s the happiest person in the world in the dugout, which he’s been at every level, it’s exactly what this team needed.”

After Montes hit his home run, he was shown in the Mariners dugout playing the celebratory home run trident like a guitar next to Randy Arozarena, who regularly hits the same celebration following his homers. There was also a viral clip of the rookie slugger and Arozarena playing a game of “Rock, Paper, Scissors.”

Montes isn’t the first big-time prospect to debut for the Mariners this year. But Shusterman believes he brings an energy to the club the others couldn’t due to his gregarious nature.

“What he can bring clearly just from an energy standpoint, this is what has been so lacking for this entire team the whole season, and that’s what’s so refreshing. Regardless of the production, this is (something) that he could really bring,” Shusterman said. “And honestly – it’s nothing personal – you’re not really going to get this from Kade Anderson, you’re not really going to get this from Colt Emerson, some of these other guys that they’ve called up. This is more of an electric personality, someone who’s loving life, loving being a big leaguer, and that is what’s so exciting about Laz being in the big leagues.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player in this story. Listen to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

Seattle Mariners news and more

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• Watch Mariners’ Lazaro Montes learn of promotion to MLB
• The Seattle Mariners have not bounced back from 6 big injuries

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