2025 Cleveland Guardians Prospect Scouting Report: #3 OF Jaison Chourio

Jaison doesn't have his brother Jackson's power, but will he hit enough and stay in center to realize his full potential?

Bio

• Age (2025 season): 20

• Acquired: International FA (2023)

• 2024 Level: Single-A

• Height: 6’1

• Weight: 162

• Bats: Both

• Throws: Right

First Impression

Savvy, balanced type player. Mature feel for the game despite his age. Exciting amount of room for growth potential. Does everything well and looks the part.

2025 Scouting Grades

• Hit: 55

• Power: 45

• Speed: 60

• Defense: 50

• Arm: 55

• Overall: 50

• Risk: Moderate

• ETA: 2028

What Makes Chourio Fun

Chourio is both the typical Cleveland position player prospect of the last decade (balanced, savvy, and few weaknesses across the board) but actually does offer a little more ceiling than just the low-floor, balanced type of prospect. I don’t like banking on all-contact hit tools because contact for the sake of contact doesn’t make a good hitter, it just means you don’t strike out. Hitting prospects need to be able to make impact contact. But there’s some reasons so far to believe in Chourio as an offensive player. There’s a real ability to make contact and control the zone and at bat vs. pitchers at a young age that should only get better with reps. Chourio has good body control in his swing with a moderate leg left. He can make in-swing adjustments with his posture and hands to find the barrel. I don’t think he’s Steven Kwan in terms of contact and zone control, but there could be some level of Michael Brantley level of bat control here. Very similar too, how he could grow into that kind of power. Chourio presently has more speed than Brantley and looks like he could stick in centerfield, but has the arm that should profile all over the outfield. Chourio has also started to grow into his body more and put on some good strength, which is exciting. He already has strong exit velocities for his previous size and age, so anymore growth there really elevates the profile.

What Could Hold Chourio Back

I probably held back my grade on Chourio’s hit tool for a few reasons. The walk rate at Low-A won’t hold as he goes up because Low-A pitching is just that bad. He was very, very passive (think even slightly less than Carlos Santana) and that won’t work as an approach as he faces better pitching (though his contact rate should even that out and it’s better he’s not chasing, as Low-A pitching is that bad). Additionally, Chourio’s swing is fairly flat and produces a lot of groundballs right now. Though he’s growing into his body and has promising exit velocities, his swing is very geared to grounders and lacks ability to pull. Power probably won’t be his game without some changes. There’s a chance Chourio ends up in a corner spot too and the bat will have to do more work, though he might end up a special defender in a corner with a good arm. It’s worth watching how his speed is impacted as he fills out his body as well. He’s currently weaker as a right handed hitter right now and could end up as a strong side platoon hitter if that doesn’t get corrected.

Key Metric

49% GB, 36.4% swing % - As mentioned, Chourio’s swing generates a lot of grounders. He does pull more (43%) than other areas, he still is letting the ball travel or going the other way a lot (37.2%). The swing rate is lower than Carlos Santana, as also mentioned and that will likely need to slightly increase as he moves up.

Intangibles

You might have heard of another Chouio, Jackson? The Brewers wunderkind, young outfielder is Jaison’s older brother and was one of baseball’s top prospects coming into 2024. The younger brother theory here is always interesting (younger brothers of talented baseball players sometimes are better - Seagers, Maddux’s, etc), but not always. Still, the bloodlines are exciting here and Cleveland gives Chourio a lot of praise for his work ethic in terms of baseball and attacking learning English.

Future

Chourio was expected to join High-A Lake County for the final stretch of the regular season and playoff run before breaking his wrist diving for a fly ball in Lynchburg. So he’ll be 100% in spring and should spearhead the Lake County outfield in 2025 with a chance to push himself to Akron by year’s end as there aren’t really many OF prospects in his way with what should be a priority prospect if he pushes them to move him. If he can reach Akron in 2025, Chourio could find himself on the doorstop sometime in 2026 or 2027. I conservatively projected 2028 based on how Cleveland typically operates, but if he takes another leap in 2025 in terms of power or hitting in general, that could accelerate. He projects now as a potentially solid, center fielder with top of the order type skills. His platoon splits though are worth watching.

Role/Risk

50/Moderate - Top of the order centerfielder with on base skills, speed, defense and maybe surprising pop - potential for a platoon issue or more to left field