Guards' No. 4 prospect Chourio suffers season-ending injury
CLEVELAND -- And just like that, Jaison Chourio¡¯s season is over.
The Guardians¡¯ No. 4 prospect, as ranked by MLB Pipeline, suffered a fractured left wrist on Saturday while attempting to make a diving catch in the outfield for Single-A Lynchburg. He will miss the remainder of the year.
There¡¯s never a good time to suffer a season-ending injury, but this may have hurt even more for Chourio, who was on the brink of being promoted to High-A Lake County on Monday. Instead, he has to spend the rest of the year watching from the sidelines.
Chourio was excellent this season, hitting .270 with an .813 OPS in 98 games for Lynchburg. He set the tone early, dazzling in the inaugural Spring Breakout game in March with a double before he was selected to represent the Guardians at the 2024 Futures Game during the All-Star break.
¡°Big body -- different from a lot of the frames that you¡¯ve seen in our organization before, but just as versatile [of an] athlete all over the field,¡± Guardians assistant general manager James Harris said at the time Chourio was heading to the Futures Game. ¡°He¡¯s a really exciting player. I hate to do comps or anything like that, but we really like him and so does the industry.¡±
Chourio stayed red hot during July, hitting .317 with a .918 OPS and a whopping 18 stolen bases. This surge was the driving force behind the decision to move the 19-year-old outfielder up to the next level this week to get a taste of High-A before the year came to an end. Now, he¡¯ll have to wait until 2025.