Michael Arroyo, who dazzled at the 2020 New Balance Baseball Future Stars Series powered by Program 15’s World Combine, which was held in the Bahamas, has signed with the Seattle Mariners for a reported $1.3 million as an international free agent.
Arroyo dazzled both at the plate and in the field at the event, which had a heavy presence from big league scouts and high-ranking executives, and emerged as one of MLB’s Top 50 International prospects shortly thereafter.
Rumors persisted that Arroyo was going to be a hot commodity among big league teams while the event was unfolding, but nothing official could be completed before the signing period officially opened earlier this week.
Now 17, the infielder joins a heavy FSS presence in an increasingly improving Mariners farm system, including International Week standouts Edwin Arroyo (no relation), who signed for an above-slot $1.65 million signing bonus as a second-rounder in the 2021 MLB Draft, as well as talented arms Damon Casetta-Stubbs (who has since been dealt to Cleveland) and Adam Macko.
There has been a bit of a mutual “gift that keeps on giving” between the Mariners and the Future Stars Series; founder, CEO and President Jeremy Booth enjoyed a four-year stay in their organization as a crosschecker and regional supervisor in the scouting department before eventually creating Program 15, which has since helped fortify the very same farm system that Booth once had a key role in helping to stock as a key member of the organization in the Draft room every year.
FSS has a big Seattle contingent; James Lofton, Noel Sevilla, Rafael Santo Domingo, Gordon Blakeley, Les McTavish and Rick Arnold all have Mariners ties as well.
