# Cuban Prospect Lázaro Montes Homers in Seattle Mariners MLB Debut

**Date:** 09/04/2026

Cuban outfielder Lázaro Montes made his Major League debut on Tuesday night, September 2, 2026, with the Seattle Mariners, and did so in style: in the fifth inning of the game at Boston's Fenway Park, he launched a 407-foot home run to center field off reliever Wyatt Olds, part of his team's win over the Red Sox. The 21-year-old Havana native opened the night with a walk and later added a run-scoring single, his first career hit.

"It's amazing, man. I'm trying to be me, be myself... I give it my 100 percent, no matter what happens," Montes said after the game. The player, ranked as Seattle's No. 5 prospect and MLB's No. 56 overall, arrived in the majors off a standout 2026 minor league season in which he hit 38 home runs, the second-highest total in all of Minor League Baseball that year.

Born in Havana, Montes signed as an international free agent with the Mariners in January 2022 for a $2.5 million bonus and climbed through the club's farm system — the Dominican Summer League, the Arizona Complex League, the Modesto Nuts, the Everett AquaSox and Double-A Arkansas, where he was named the Northwest League's Most Valuable Player in 2025. His debut fell on the same night that Cuban-American infielder Yohandy Morales, of the Washington Nationals, also homered in his own big-league debut, a coincidence sports media called a historic night for Cuban baseball talent.