Former Thunder star signs with Blue Jays
Bryce Arnold is living his baseball dream.
The 22-year-old Grimsby native signed with the Toronto Blue Jays this week as a free agent after being passed over in the Major League Baseball draft earlier this month and now goes to work every day at the Blue Jays player development complex in Dunedin, Fla.
“It’s awesome,” the Blessed Trinity graduate said. “They have unlimited resources, anything I could ask for or think about they have here. I use them pretty much every day to my advantage to get better as well as being on the field every day hitting, fielding, base running.
“It’s a pretty cool experience.”
Arnold is working out with the rest of the players signed from the recent draft before they are sent out to various minor league affiliates within the organization.
“This is pretty much my first job,” he laughed.
A natural shortstop, he is being tested all over the diamond during the workouts and scrimmages.
“I’m moving kind of all over to be more versatile,” he said. “It’s the best option for me to stay in the lineup as much as I can and that’s what they said to me too.”
Arnold was naturally disappointed after going undrafted, but quickly received a call a couple of days later from his advisor informing him of some good news.
“There were talks between me and them (Blue Jays) in the draft through my advisor and then after the draft didn’t work out too well my advisor called me Saturday and said they offered me a free agent deal and I took it,” Arnold said. “I was excited to get the opportunity to play professional baseball.”
The fact he was able to sign with the Blue Jays is icing on the cake.
“I was always a Blue Jays fan,” he said. “As a little kid, that’s who I wanted to be drafted by or signed by so it was pretty exciting.”
Arnold is coming off a superb 2023 campaign at Campbell University, a Division 1 school in the Coastal Athletic Association in North Carolina, that saw him named as a first-team all-Big South after slashing .321/.412/.638 with 17 homers and 65 runs batted in. He added 25 multi-hit games and a team-high 19 multi-RBI games while leading the Big South with 19 doubles and 40 total extra base hits.
“I think obviously having a good year puts me in a good spot to start off a pro career and get those kind of opportunities,” he said. “I was pretty satisfied with the year I had. Having a good year and also having multiple good years helped set me up for this kind of experience and opportunity.”
Arnold, who has three years of schooling under his belt, has no qualms putting his education on hold for the moment.
“Depending on how old I am and how far my baseball career takes me, I will probably do my final year of school in Canada. I don’t fully know yet,” he said.
For now, Arnold is attempting to soak up the experience as much as possible before beginning his pro career, likely with a Rookie League team in either Florida (Gulf Coast League Blue Jays) or West Virginia (Bluefield Blue Jays).
“I’m just thinking about doing my own kind of deal. I know what kind of baseball player I am and I know what I’m capable of doing,” he said. “As long as I can kind of stick to the work ethic and keep doing my daily things and performing like I usually do, it should all work out eventually in the long run.”
Arnold played high school ball at BT where head coach Dustin Wiley was a big fan and has continued to follow his career closely.
“We at Blessed Trinity are extremely proud of Bryce and his accomplishments thus far,” Wiley said. “He truly is a class act on and off the field. We wish him nothing but the best and can’t wait to see what his future holds in pro ball.”
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