Mariners prospects Lazaro Montes and Michael Arroyo promoted to Triple-A Tacoma

SEATTLE – Two tantalizing young prospects who have captured the imagination of Mariners fandom are getting their much-anticipated promotion to Triple-A Tacoma.

Sorry, it’s just not those two prospects. Not yet, anyway.

As top pitching prospects Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan continue to flourish in the Mariners’ minors, two of their Double-A teammates – sluggers Lazaro Montes and Michael Arroyo – have been promoted to Tacoma, major league sources confirmed.

Anderson and Sloan have both had dominant seasons in Arkansas and could be part of the Mariners’ big-league plans at some point and in some capacity late this summer.

The Mariners, though, generally prefer to keep their top pitching prospects in Arkansas’ pitcher-friendly environment and out of the hitters’ havens that litter the Triple-A Pacific Coast League.

That’s good news for Montes and Arroyo, who have survived what is typically the most challenging test for Mariners’ young hitters at Arkansas’ Dickey-Stephens Park, often described as the toughest hitters’ park in all of baseball.

Anderson and Sloan are both ranked among the top 10 prospects in baseball. Montes and Arroyo are third and fourth, respectively, in the Mariners’ system; Montes is ranked as the No. 27 prospect in baseball and Arroyo is No. 44, per MLB Pipeline.

A 21-year-old Cuban right fielder, Montes was named the Mariners’ minor -league hitter of the month for June, during which he posted a 1.199 OPS with 12 home runs over 25 games for Arkansas.

In 339 plate appearances this season, the 6-foot-5, 250-pound Montes has posted a .234/.369/.550 slash line (. 919 OPS) with 25 homers, 11 doubles, 66 RBIs, 54 walks and 103 strikeouts in 79 games. He has 101 career home runs in 451 minor-league games.

Montes has often been described as a “boom or bust” type prospect. He’s a big man with a big left-handed swing, and his power potential is as great as any slugger in the minor leagues.

That power stroke also comes with quite a bit of swing-and-miss. His 30.4% strikeout rate ranks among the highest in the Texas League this season, though his 15.9% walk rate also ranks in the top 10.

Scouts describe Arroyo, 21, as a pure hitter with a compact right-handed swing. In 65 games with Arkansas this season, he has a .287/.364/.456 slash line (. 820 OPS) with 10 homers, 12 doubles, 13 steals, 24 walks and 49 strikeouts in 297 plate appearances.

Arroyo is considered a below-average fielder at second base, and he’s spent more time in left field this season. Some in the organization project Arroyo as the Mariners’ opening-day left fielder in 2027.