After vaulting into the top 10 of all major prospect lists during the 2023 preseason thanks to a stellar 2022 in which he climbed three levels, Chourio showed off his tantalizing power-speed combination in Double-A as a 19 year-old before finishing the season in Triple-A.
Jackson Chourio has enjoyed a meteoric rise through the prospect ranks and is now on the cusp of making his-big league debut. He was signed as an international free agent out of Venezuela by the Brewers in January 2021. At 17, he made his professional debut in the Dominican Summer League, where he batted .296 with 2 homers, 25 RBI, 31 runs scored, and 8 steals in 11 attempts across 189 plate appearances, with a well above-average wRC+ of 131. His strikeout rate came in at a modest 15% clip while he drew walks at a healthy 12% rate. Although he had played SS as an amateur, issues with his arm in tandem with his plus-plus speed led the Brewers to play him in CF.
On the heels of a solid if unspectacular professional debut, Milwaukee management had Chourio start the 2022 campaign with Single-A Carolina. He began his age-18 season with a bang as he hit .324 with 12 dingers, 47 RBI, 51 run scored, and 10 steals in 12 chances across 271 PA while logging a robust wRC+ of 160. But with a 7% walk rate and 28% strikeout rate, it was clear that Chourio still had some work to do on his approach at the plate.
To his credit, he showed some improvement
after the organization promoted him to High-A Wisconsin as he recorded an 8%
walk rate and 22% strikeout rate in 142 PA. At that level, he batted .252 with
8 homers, 24 RBI, 24 runs scored, and 4 steals in 5 tries, with an
above-average wRC+ of 119. None of it was overwhelming, but, rather, just solid
work for an 18 year-old in High-A.
Chourio closed out the 2022 campaign with Double-A Biloxi, where he struggled in a tiny sample size. There, he hit just .087 with no dingers, 4 RBI, 0 runs scored, and 2 thefts in 3 chances, with a wRC+ of -28. He drew a few walks (8%) but looked overmatched at the dish as he fanned at a 42% clip in that very small sample size of just 6 games. An 18 year-old struggling to get his feet underneath him at perhaps the most talent-dense level of the minors was nothing to be concerned about. He had, after all, been selected to the Futures Game earlier in the summer and had performed well across three levels over the course of the season.
His performance in 2022 landed Chourio on the major top-100 prospect lists as the 2023 campaign approached. He was, in fact, a top-10 prospect according to all three major prospect outlets, with Baseball America ranking him the highest at #3 while MLB Pipeline put him at #8 and Baseball Prospectus had him at #10. Although his 70-grade speed is his loudest tool, scouts also raved about his ability to make hard contact to all fields. They noted that his hit tool needed some work as his plate discipline and zone coverage remained works-in-progress, and Chourio did struggle with breaking stuff away early on in 2022. But he made adjustments as the season progressed and appears likely to be an above-average hitter.
Unsurprisingly, Chourio began the 2023 season back in Double-A. This time, he showed why he’s a top prospect, batting .280 with 22 homers, 89 RBI, 84 runs scored, and 43 stolen bases in 52 attempts across 559 PA, with an above-average wRC+ of 112. Although his walk rate was pretty average at 7%, he slashed his strikeout rate to 18%, the lowest figure in that department he posted since he was in the DSL in 2021. Chourio showed off his tantalizing power-speed combination en route to earning another invitation to the Futures Game as a 19 year-old putting up nice numbers in Double-A. He finished the 2023 campaign with a brief stint with Triple-A Nashville, hitting .333 with no homers, 2 RBI, 4 run scored, and 1 steal in 1 attempt across just 24 PA, with a wRC+ of 111. While a sample size of 6 games is obviously tiny, it was encouraging to see Chourio walk (8%) more frequently than he fanned (4%) at the highest level of the minors.
Given his skillset, prospect grades, and minor-league track record, it’s difficult to not be excited about Chourio’s fantasy potential. While he might not hit for a great average, his development over the last couple of seasons suggests that he could hit for a solid average in the majors while offering plus power and plus-plus speed. And he could reach the big leagues next season at just 20. Fantasy owners would not be faulted for stashing him on their rosters on draft day.
Photo credit: NatureBoyMD, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
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