Lázaro Armenteros

Lázaro Robersy Armenteros Arango (Lázarito)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 195 lb.

• Born May 22, 1999 in Havana Cuba

BR register page

Biographical Information

Lázaro Armenteros has played as high as AAA and has been on the Cuban national team.

Armenteros defected from Cuba in 2015 and became a highly-sought prospect. He wound up getting a $3 million bonus from the Oakland A's. The scout was Raul Gomez. He split his first pro summer between the DSL Athletics (3 for 18, 3 BB, 6 R in 6 G) and AZL Athletics (.289/.376/.474 in 41 G). Baseball America rated him as the #5 A's prospect.

With the 2018 Beloit Snappers, he hit .277/.374/.401. Baseball America ranked him as Oakland's 6th-best prospect. They also ranked him as the #14 Midwest League prospect, between Moisés Gómez and Kevin Smith. He slipped to .222/.336/.403 for the '19 Stockton Ports; he showed good pop (17 HR) and speed (22 SB, 6 CS) while drawing 73 walks but struck out 227 times. He was third in the California League in walks (behind Jeisson Rosario and Luis Alejandro Basabe), 7th in extra-base hits (44) and first in K (50 more than runner-up Jeremy Eierman). Among A's farmhands, he was second in walks (two shy of Chase Calabuig), first in K (37 ahead of Collin Theroux), tied Trace Loehr for 7th in runs, tied Franklin Barreto and Nick Allen for 9th in triples (5), was 7th in homers and ranked 4th in swipes (between Jorge Mateo and Greg Deichmann). He led all of minor league baseball in strikeouts in fact (Theroux was second there as well).

The 2020 minor league season was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic. He split '21 between Stockton (.431/.471/.615 in 15 G) and the Lansing Lugnuts (.195/.267/.293 in 56 G), stealing 21 bases in 29 attempts for the year. With the 2022 Lugnuts, he missed 7 weeks with a strained left hamstring and ten games for a suspension for his role in a brawl ; he did well when playing, at .261/.376/.479 with 10 homers and 13 steals in 56 games. He spent 2023 with Lansing (.277/.404/.723 in 13 G) and the Midland RockHounds (.249/.380/.464 in 96 G), with a combined 75 runs, 20 homers, 82 RBI and 69 walks. Among A's minor leaguers, he was 7th in runs, 3rd in dingers (3 behind Cody Thomas and one shy of Tyler Soderstrom), tied Colby Thomas for second in RBI (27 behind Cody Thomas), trailed only the Thomases in extra-base hits, trailed only Max Schuemann and Brennan Milone in walks, was 7th in total bases (between Yohel Pozo and Trenton Brooks) and was behind only Cody Thomas and Pozo in slugging. In the Texas League, he tied for 7th in triples (5) and tied Mike Antico and Pedro Pagés for 9th in RBI (72). Following that fine summer, he eked out a .167/.351/.191 line for the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League.

He took a step back in 2024, split between Midland (.269/.406/.365 in 16 G) and the Las Vegas Aviators (.192/.321/.309 in 42 G); he had 3 homers in 58 games and struck out in 68 of 146 AB. He still played for Cuba in the 2024 Premier 12. With Roel Santos, Yadir Drake and Yoelquis Guibert in the outfield, he got into only one game, pinch-running for Ariel Martínez in a loss to Japan.