The Hiroshima Carp of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball announced this week that they’ve signed infielder Elehuris Montero and re-signed lefty Taylor Hearn, who excelled for the Carp in a relief role in 2024 (Japanese-language links via Yahoo Japan). Both players are CAA clients, and both are receiving one-year deals for the 2025 campaign.
Montero, 26, was once a highly touted corner infield prospect in the Cardinals system. He landed with the Rockies alongside Austin Gomber, Mateo Gil, Tony Locey and Jake Sommers in the trade sending Nolan Arenado to St. Louis. Colorado outrighted him off the 40-man roster this past July, and he became a minor league free agent at season’s end.
The Rox gave Montero his big league debut in 2022, but while he’s shown power at times throughout parts of three MLB seasons, he’s never been able to put the ball in play or reach base with any real consistency. The righty-swinging slugger is a career .228/.277/.387 hitter in 739 plate appearances. He’s been far better in Triple-A, mashing at a .314/.392/.589 pace in 877 trips to the plate. That’s the type of production the Carp surely are hoping to acquire.
The 30-year-old Hearn was a fifth-round pick by the Nats back in 2015 and has pitched in parts of five MLB seasons — primarily with the Rangers. He worked as both a starter and reliever during his time in Texas, enjoying far more success in the bullpen (4.48 ERA, 24.6 K%, 11 BB%) than in the rotation (6.36 ERA, 18.3 K%, 9.5 BB%).
It was in the bullpen that Hearn starred for the Carp upon signing with them last December. He missed some time in ’24 but was excellent when on the mound, pitching 35 innings with a pristine 1.29 ERA. Hearn was one of the primary setup men for the Carp, though he picked up a pair of saves as well. In his 35 frames, he fanned 20.2% of his opponents against a terrific 5.4% walk rate.
The Carp are one typo away from being Crap.
I was really hopeful for Hearn when he was with the Bucs. Had some real gas in him. Glad to see he settled somewhere.
Taylor Hearn is a good guy. It’s good to see him having some success.
And former Blue Jay & Pirate legend, Thomas Hatch will not be re-signed for the upcoming season.
news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/547535b11f6525b6ac1c14c2…
I predict Montero hits 30hr in that AAAA league.
He’ll hit a thousand homers there.
Going to be Wladimir Balentien all over again.
Whether Montero will succeed in NPB is yet to be determined. However, it’s usually a good idea for NPB teams to sign former MLB players going into their age 26 seasons. By age 26, players are more likely to be personally and professionally mature enough to succeed in NPB, and the signing team is getting what will likely be their prime age 26 to 28 seasons..
Montero never seemed to adjust to big-league pitching when the Rockies gave him a chance. For a guy who is limited to 1B/DH (trying him at 3B failed), a lot better bat is needed to stick in MLB.