Former Mariners catcher and designated hitter Jesús Montero died last week after succumbing to injuries sustained when his motorcycle crashed into a truck in Caracas, Venezuela, on October 4. He was 35
years old.
If you were a Mariners fan during Montero’s time with the team, this sad news probably brought back unpleasant memories of the Jack Zduriencik era. The news of his death came around on the day the Mariners were playing game six of the ALCS. You’d be forgiven if you didn’t spend much time thinking about it considering what was at stake for the 2025 Mariners. Then the Mariners lost game seven on Monday and in the midst of grieving the source of joy and hope that was the 2025 Mariners, I’ve also been meandering through my memories of Montero and that cursed era of the team, particularly 2010-2013.
Michael Pineda was the best starting the pitcher the Mariners had developed since Félix Hernández. He had a breakout rookie season in 2011, but the team was eternally starved for bats during this dead ball era at then Safeco Field, before the fences were moved in and MLB started futzing with the composition and pre-game treatment of the baseballs. So, Jack Z traded Pineda to the Yankees, for a hyped slugger named Jesús Montero who could also maybe play catcher someday. As you can probably guess, or remember, it didn’t work out well for the Mariners, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying on Montero’s part.
Montero’s time with the Mariners began with a peak, then a prolonged valley (or as Kate Preusser put it in her first LL piece ever, an “annus horribilus”), and then an attempted ascent to another peak that ultimately fell short. If you’ve never read Kate’s now 10-year-old LL debut, I cannot recommend it highly enough because it’s better than anything I can write about this man, but I’m giving it my best shot here.
I really, really wanted Montero to overcome his failings and to be successful in Seattle. I’ve felt that way about many Mariners prospects and league cast-offs who ended up here, but Montero’s story had layers of cosmic tragedy and unfairness that just made me want to see him succeed so badly. As with many Yankees prospects, he was over-valued and over-hyped as a prospect. They looked past his lack of a glove and lack any real catching ability and only saw the potential power in his bat. After having some brief success with the Yankees before being traded, he probably figured he’d come to a new city and keep doing what he had been doing: hitting dingers and receiving praise. But, like countless Mariners prospects before him and particularly during the Jack Z era, Montero came here and lost his swing. Maybe it was fueled by the NYC water like they say about New York pizza. More likely it was just the hell of having to be a right-handed hitter in Safeco Field during the worst offensive era possible. Then came the stories about not being able to “run correctly.” Then came the offseason where he came to Spring Training overweight and infamously said “I wasn’t doing nothing (after finishing winter ball), just eating.” Desperation undoubtedly crept in as he saw his chance at playing in MLB trickle away, and so he reached for anything that might help him get better. In August 2013, he was linked to the Biogenesis scandal and he was suspended for fifty games, ending his season. You’d think that was the nadir. It wasn’t.
A year later while rehabbing an oblique injury with then Single A Everett, Mariners scout Butch Baccala was cross-checking in the stands while Montero was participating as first base coach in a game. Baccala first heckled Montero to hustle (more specifically, yelled “Rapido! Rapido!”) as Montero headed back to the dugout. Then, Baccala ordered an ice cream sandwich and had it sent to Montero in the dugout to taunt him. Montero then went towards the stands with a bat, spit at Baccala, threatened him, and threw the ice cream sandwich back at him. If I were in Montero’s shoes, I’m pretty sure I’d have done something similar.
I’ve had many low points in my Mariners fandom, but this one still stands as one of the most forehead-slapping, indefensible, and downright embarrassing moments. A team employee (a scout!!!) playing a mean spirited joke during a game on a player who had already been struggling for years. A player he should be trying help, to build up. Not kick him while he’s down. Fans had been growing very wary of the Jack Z regime at this point, so this wasn’t so much as a canary in the coal mine for the utter toxicity of the front office at that time, so much as it was an airplane spelling out in the sky above Seattle, “this team is rotting from the inside out, fire these shitbirds!!”
The Ice Cream Sandwich Incident was not where Montero’s story with the Mariners ended. This was where the return ascent began. In the offseason between 2014 and 2015, Montero and his wife had their first child. His wife Taneth had a degree in Nutrition and Health Science and helped Jesús get his eating habits in order and then he opted to stay in Peoria for most of the offseason and literally work his ass off. When you look up the sports cliche “Best Shape of His Life,” there is an entry for 2015 Jesús Montero. He put in the work. He didn’t stop trying after all the adversity he had faced. After falling short of the high expectations put upon him by glue-sniffing Yankees scouts as he came to a Mariners team desperate for hitters, he had gone through the wringer and came out the other side as the best version of himself that he could realistically be.
The bat never did quite make it back to where it was in 2011, though. After the end of his Mariner contract in 2015, he tried to make it back with the Blue Jays during Spring Training in 2016. Once again, a choice was made out of desperation and he was suspended 50 games after testing positive for dimethyl butylamine, a stimulant that helps combat fatigue. It was Montero’s second suspension for violating anti-doping regulations. After serving his suspension, he gave it one more shot the Orioles but never made it out of the minors. That was the end of Montero’s MLB journey.
He continued playing Venezuelan Winter League for six more seasons with the Navegantes del Magallanes, Cardenales de Lara and Águilas del Zulia. He retired at age 31 after the 2020-21 season.
One has to hope he found some peace in his life in Venezuela, with his wife and two children. I hope against hope that he felt something other than regret about his time with the Mariners. Surely the feelings were mixed, but there were good moments, too. And just the fact that he made mistakes, but kept trying. He didn’t give up until he had truly exhausted all his options. He took the feedback he received from his toxic front office and he put in the work and lost the weight. I hope it felt as good to him as I imagine, to stick it to his doubters, even if it didn’t work out as well as he probably wanted it to. I was proud of him for trying, and I still am.
Rest easy, Jesús.
