Few up-and-comers have generated the immediate attention that is surrounding Jackson Chourio, the Brewers’ teenage slugger considered one of the top overall prospects in all of professional baseball.
The Milwaukee Brewers made a splash in recent days when word began to circulate that Chourio would sign a monster contract that could keep him with the hometown team well into the next decade.
The team made the signing of their No. 1 prospect official on Monday at baseball’s winter meetings in Nashville. Chourio reportedly signed an eight-year, $82 million deal with the Brewers. The contract runs through the 2031 season, with two team options after that. Incentives could reportedly push the value of the contract to close to $142 million.
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“Jackson has proven to be one of the elite young prospects in all of baseball,” Brewers Senior Vice President and General Manager Matt Arnold said in a statement. “We are extremely excited to make this unprecedented commitment to a player we believe to be a generational talent who has all the tools to be the face of our franchise. We are thrilled to have Jackson in a Brewers uniform for many years to come.”
The 19-year-old outfielder, a native of Maracaibo, Venezuela, first signed with Milwaukee in 2021, at the age of 16, for $1.9 million. He won’t turn 20 until March, when the Brewers will be in Spring Training in Arizona for the 2024 season.
“There’s definitely going to be a little bit of pressure, but I’m going to work really hard,” Chourio said through a translator during a press conference on Monday in Nashville.
Chourio stressed that high-paying deal “is not going to change him.”
Chourio created a bit of a stir at Fiserv Forum on Saturday night, where he sat courtside while taking in the Milwaukee Bucks’ win over the Atlanta Hawks. He was in Milwaukee for a physical prior to the signing of the deal.
The new contract obliterates that highest contract ever given to a player who hasn’t yet reached the major leagues, far surpassing the six-year, $50 million contract Luis Robert Jr. signed with the Chicago White Sox in 2020.
Eyes became focused on Chourio this season over the course of the 122 games that he played for the Brewers’ Double-A affiliate in Biloxi, Mississippi. Chourio had a batting average of .280, on-base percentage of .336 and a slugging percentage of .467.
The performance earned him a late-season call-up to Nashville, Milwaukee’s Triple-A affiliate. In six games there, he collected seven hits in 21 at-bats.
Through his first three minor league seasons, during which he’s constantly played against much older competition, Chourio has 47 home runs, 191 RBIs and 68 stolen bases in 272 games.
Chourio went on to shred pitching in the Venezuela Winter League, which recently wrapped up, batting .379 with an on-base percentage of .453 while slugging at a .530 clip.
Chourio spent part of the 2022 season with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, Milwaukee’s High-A affiliate, where he put up astounding numbers. The Timber Rattlers took note of Chourio’s signing with this post on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday.
Listed at 5-foot-11 and 165 pounds, Chourio is primarily an outfielder but has also played second base.
The Brewers brass sees a high ceiling for the budding young star and wanted to lock in Chourio for potentially the next 10 years. With no service time-related concerns that would keep him in the minors, Chourio could end up on the Brewers’ Opening Day roster, where he would join a team filled with young players – and a crowded outfield – under the direction of new manager Pat Murphy.
“I’ve talked to all of those players, and I have a really good relationship with them, but I understand that this decision was mostly because – it’s definitely to secure my future, and now I can play easy,” Chourio said. “I can play without that pressure and definitely bring the best to the field.”
Chourio on Monday joined a 40-man roster loaded with outfielders including youngsters Joey Wiemer, Sal Frelick and Garrett Mitchell and veterans Christian Yelich and Tyrone Taylor.
The signing of Chourio is welcome news for Brewers’s fan who were still feeling the sting of the loss of former manager Craig Counsell to the rival Chicago Cubs. Counsell, a Whitefish Bay native who spent nine seasons at the helm of the Brewers and led them to the playoffs five of the last six seasons, spurned the Brewers last month in a shocking move that few saw coming.
