By: Harris Yudin
7/23 Carolina vs Down East
Jackson Chourio, OF, Carolina Mudcats
By his remarkably high standards, 18-year-old outfielder Jackson Chourio had a relatively quiet evening on Saturday in what turned out to be his final game in a Mudcats uniform. Milwaukee’s top prospect went 1-for-3, including a rocket off the top of the wall in right-center for a first-inning double. He followed that up with a strikeout in the third, a hard-hit groundout to short in the fifth and an intentional walk in the seventh.
Chourio was busy out in center field – particularly late in the game – but wasn’t needed to do anything out of the ordinary. His reaction time and first step quickness are off-the-charts, and he covers a ton of ground in a very short amount of time. He is still learning to play the outfield – he was signed as a shortstop – and his reads and routes clearly need work, but the tools are there for him to become at least a plus defender. He only made one throw that was even close to max effort on Saturday, and while his arm looked strong, that one throw wasn’t enough of a sample size to make any real judgment.
Even without an eye-popping box score line, Chourio’s toolset was on full display against the Wood Ducks. He was promoted on Sunday to High-A – where he will be the youngest player by about nine months – and should continue shooting up prospect lists.