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.
