The Seattle Mariners have a lot of exciting players in the minor leagues.
The Mariners ended the 2024 season with eight prospects ranked in Baseball America’s top 100 list and five ranked in MLB Pipeline’s top 100 list. Seattle could have more top 100 players by the end of 2025 depending on how top 2024 draft picks like Jurrangelo CIjntje perform in their first professional seasons.
But a current top 100 prospect is reaping the benefits for an amazing 2024.
Baseball America recently released their latest list of top 10 Mariners prospects and Michael Arroyo was listed as the team’s No. 4 prospect.
Arroyo went from not being listed as a top 100 prospect at the beginning of 2024 to being included on the list by the end of the season and is now a top five minor leaguer within the organization.
Baseball America had the following scouting report on Arroyo in their list:
Arroyo stands right on top of the plate, combining quick hands and an on-balance stride to create outstanding plate coverage. He’s both smart and disciplined, with an excellent idea of what the pitcher is trying to do in any given count. Though he likes to turn on inside pitches, Arroyo is willing to use the whole field—and does so with many balls hit at optimal launch angles. He showed a major uptick in power in 2024, even displaying opposite-field home run power. There are few questions with Arroyo’s bat, which combines hit, zone control and power. The rest of his profile is more ordinary. On the bases, Arroyo is a good accelerator, but his short strides and lack of top-end speed limit him to an average overall run tool. He has shown aggression stealing bases in the low minors but may not have the speed to maintain that at higher levels. He’s already moved from shortstop to second base, and though he should stay at the keystone, he projects as fringy at best. His range is fairly limited, and his subpar arm and lack of athleticism prevent him from making plays on the run.
Arroyo played 120 games in 2024 split evenly between Seattle’s Low-A affiliate, the Modesto Nuts, and High-A affiliate, the Everett AquaSox.
Arroyo finished 2024 with a .285 average to go with 23 home runs, 89 RBIs and 18 steals. His 23 home runs were the most in the minor leagues for players 19 years-old or younger.
Arroyo improved on his hitting numbers after his promotion to Everett. He hit .290 in High-A compared to .279 in Low-A and knocked 12 home with the AquaSox compared to 11 with the Nuts.
Arroyo signed with Mariners as an international free agent on Jan. 15, 2022, out of Colombia. Despite earning a record-setting signing bonus for a Colombian player ($1.375 million), very few media outlets expected him to have the season he did in 2024.
Baseball America said it “wouldn’t be surprising” for Arroyo to get promoted to the Double-A Arkansas Travelers at or near the beginning of the year.
Arroyo’s emergence was unexpected, but not unwelcome. And there’s a good chance he’ll factor into Seattle’s plans sooner rather than later at his current trajectory.