Brewers' Chourio homers on four-hit day

Jackson Chourio hasn’t had many quiet stretches this year. After having just one multihit game over his last nine, he busted out on Sunday.

Baseball’s No. 34 overall prospect homered and added three singles for his second four-hit game of the month as High-A Wisconsin sank visiting South Bend, 5-3.

Chourio kicked things off for the Timber Rattlers in the bottom of the first with a man on when he took a 3-0 offering from No. 26 Cubs prospect Daniel Palencia and belted it over the left-center-field wall.

“The plan today was just to let the ball get a little bit deeper and just looking for barrels,” Chourio said over Zoom through teammate and interpreter Arbert Cipion. “It went down [that way].”

Milwaukee’s top prospect continued rolling from there. In the third, Chourio lined a single to center field and followed with another single on a liner to left in the fourth. Three innings later, in his final trip to the plate, the outfielder bounced his fourth hit through the left side. Over his last six games, Chourio is now batting .348/.407/.783.

“It’s just the work ethic; working through it and trying to have fun while I play,” he said.

Chourio has been rocketing up prospect lists this season, starting the year outside MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 list before climbing to his current perch in the top 35. The 18-year-old was a revelation with Single-A Carolina to begin the year, batting .324/.373/.600 with 12 homers and 47 RBIs in 62 games before being promoted last month to Wisconsin, where he’s handled the new level with relative ease.

“There are a couple of things that may be a little bit different, but I don’t see that big of a jump from Carolina to here,” he said of pitchers’ approaches in the Midwest League.

Sunday's performance marked Chourio's fourth four-hit game of the season and second since his promotion, joining an Aug. 3 showing.

Now through 18 games at High-A, Chourio is batting .297/.365/.514 since the promotion with four homers and 12 RBIs. Three of those home runs and seven of the RBIs have come over the Maracaibo, Venezuela, native’s last five games.

Chourio’s breakout season has put him atop his organization’s prospect rankings, but the budding star doesn’t credit anything mechanical or philosophical for the success.

“The endless support that I get from my family and other people around me helps me so much,” he said. “It motivates me, and it’s been my drive throughout this season.”

Sunday’s win gave the Timber Rattlers a series win over the Cubs in the six-game set. Though Chourio pitched in in a host of ways, he didn’t hesitate when asked to name his favorite part of the week.

“The three bombs,” he said with a smile.