Infielder Coco Montes has an agreement with the Yomiuri Giants pending a physical, reports Francys Romero (X link). The South Florida product had been in Triple-A with the Rockies before being granted his release earlier this week.
Montes had a cup of coffee at the big league level a year ago. He appeared in 18 games for the Rox, hitting .184/.244/.316 over 41 plate appearances. Montes spent the remainder of the season with Triple-A Albuquerque, running a .317/.400/.551 slash line over 107 contests. Teams were skeptical about that production given Albuquerque’s very hitter-friendly nature and he cleared waivers in September.
The 27-year-old returned to the Isotopes this season. He has been one of the more productive hitters in the Pacific Coast League, turning in a .335/.414/.551 mark with nine homers through 297 plate appearances. While it wasn’t enough to get Montes another look in the Colorado infield, it caught the attention of the NPB’s Giants. He’ll head overseas for the first time in his career, a deal that surely comes with a nice pay bump relative to what he’d been making in Triple-A.
The Japanese baseball Giants went cuckoo for Coco Puffs.
Better headline.
What if the Yomiuri Giants already have a guy named Coco? He might have to change his name to T-Bone.
Between Montes going to Japan, Schunk getting called up with Alan Trejo getting DFAd, and Amador being hurt, Rockies infield depth is approaching zero. They’d better hope Trejo clears and accepts an outright to AAA. If not, one or two recently released scrubs should be getting a phone call. Joey Wendle, perhaps?