Monday Night Put MLB on Notice: Jackson Chourio is Already a Slugger

On a night when Jackson Chourio drew a ninth-inning walk to stretch out a (doomed, but valiant) rally, that impressive plate appearance might have been his least dazzling one. Chourio collected two hits on the evening, as well, including his third career home run. He also hit a fly ball to right-center field that died just shy of the wall, but which he hit even harder than his dinger. His power is extremely real, and not a far-off promise.

Proof of that fact: Chourio had four batted balls on the night, all four of which left his lumber at 97 miles per hour or more. That makes him just the seventh 20-year-old to crack four balls 95 MPH or harder in a single game during the Statcast Era, going back to 2015. The other six are:

• Wander Franco
• Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
• Fernando Tatis Jr.
• Juan Soto
• Carlos Correa
• Ozzie Albies

Other than Franco (for reasons far, far from the actual game), all of these are stars, and all but Albies are full-fledged superstars. Correa and Albies have seen their power diminish a bit, and Guerrero has been inconsistent, but all of these players have shown the potential to hit for near-elite power, and in none of these cases did it take until they were 23 or 25 years old. 

Expect Chourio to keep hitting for power, even if (and even as) he goes through a tough adjustment period as this season progresses. The league will target his weaknesses and pitch away from his strengths, but he's already shown the ability to hit non-meatballs hard. His homer Monday came on a changeup that had too much of the zone, but the ball hit just as well to the opposite field was on a slider that reached the outside corner.

Here's Chourio's first-inning single off Joe Musgrove, on a sinker low and in. He was sitting on a fastball, and dropped the barrel on it. This was his hardest-hit ball of the night, and only needed another few degrees of lift to go for extra bases. He was all over the ball.

Now, here's his third time up, after that single and the home run. Musgrove fell behind 1-0, and Chourio set himself to hammer another fastball. As we said, though, Musgrove went slider instead. That Chourio adjusted to it, stayed back, and still lashed the ball hard toward the gap underscores how special he's already become.

Chourio isn't a sensational athlete who will have to piece together value by playing great defense and stealing bases while we wait for his power to come along; his power is already in evidence and abundance. If that wasn't clear before Monday night, it should be now.