Overlooked Mariners prospect could get his big break in World Baseball Classic

The Seattle Mariners are sending 16 players to the World Baseball Classic, and most are established big leaguers. The others are prospects for whom the international tournament could be a coming-out party, and nobody gives off "2023 Harry Ford" energy like Michael Arroyo.

For anyone wondering how the Mariners' erstwhile catching prospect entered this chat, he was the best thing Great Britain had going for it in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Though he was only 20 at the time, he was their big star at the plate with four hits (including two home runs) in 13 at-bats.

This was after Ford had already broken out in 2022, allowing him to claim a newfound status as a top-100 prospect. His star subsequently grew in 2023, with the WBC functioning as a sort of springboard as he earned top-50 status for 2024.

This legacy — if you can call it that — is a lot for Arroyo to live up to as he prepares for his first World Baseball Classic for his native Colombia. But as someone somewhere might have said once, "Always bet on the talented ones."

2026 World Baseball Classic could prove to be Michael Arroyo's big break

With Ford and Jurrangelo Cijntje having both left the organization, the Mariners are down to only (well, more like "only") six prospects in MLB Pipeline's top 100. And of the bunch, he's probably the hardest sell as a future star.

Colt Emerson is the best, and he could be a member of the Mariners' everyday lineup as soon as Opening Day. Lazaro Montes has booming power. Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan profile as future aces. And injuries be damned, Jonny Farmelo still has compelling athleticism.

Arroyo, meanwhile, generally gets compared to Howie Kendrick. Good player. Long major league career. Literally won a World Series. But he was never a superstar, and he was an All-Star just once in 15 seasons.

Yet here's the nice part about the Kendrick comp: dude could hit. He retired with a .294 career batting average and a 109 OPS+, making him a solidly above average hitter after 6,421 career plate appearances.

Nobody will complain if Arroyo ends up fitting this mold, and he's already well on his way there. He's played 353 games in the minors and gotten on base at a .408 clip. And after slamming 40 homers across the last two seasons, he may also have more power in the tank than Kendrick ever did.

Because Colombia doesn't quite stack up against, say, Team USA, the Dominican Republic or Samurai Japan, they're going to need as much as Arroyo can give them in the WBC. And this is where his profile could work to his advantage.

This is no thumper whose asterisk is that he crushes the ball *if* he makes contact. This is an advanced hitter whose .408 OBP in the minors is built upon high walk rates and strikeout rates that, while not quite Luis Arraez-tier, are not trending up even as the competition gets tougher.

For what it's worth, Colombia will be on upset alert (in a good way) right off the bat. Their first matchup in Pool A is against Puerto Rico, which notably won't have core stars like Francisco Lindor and Carlos Correa. A win for Colombia, then, would put them firmly on the map.

And the more Arroyo has to do with it, the sooner he stands to turn 2026 into the year that he also landed squarely on the map.