The Orioles came out of the 2025 MLB Draft with a haul that already looks loaded, but Ike Irish may be the name that ends up carrying the most intrigue.
Baltimore had five picks in the first 58 selections and used them to grab Auburn catcher/outfielder Ike Irish, Coastal Carolina catcher Caden Bodine, Arkansas shortstop and Golden Spikes winner Wehiwa Aloy, high school outfielder and Vanderbilt commit Slater de Brun, and Michigan State left-hander Joseph Dzierwa, a control-heavy arm with a polished profile.
Bodine and de Brun were quickly shipped to Tampa Bay in the deal for right-handed pitcher Shane Baz, who then signed a five-year, $68 million extension. Aloy kept rolling after his college season, winning Orioles Minor League Player of the Year honors. Dzierwa also surged, climbing into the top-100 prospect conversation and taking home the Jim Palmer Orioles Minor League Pitcher of the Year award.
Irish, though, is the one who now looks like he could be on a different track entirely.
He hit .286 with 20 doubles, 16 home runs, and a 135 wRC+ in 76 High-A games in his first full pro season, then saw that year cut short by a torn meniscus in late July. More than two months later, Baltimore sent him to the Arizona Fall League to make up for the lost at-bats, and that assignment has done more than just help him catch up.
It has also clarified something about his future.
Irish spent a meaningful amount of time catching at Auburn, though an injury pushed him into the outfield more often during his junior year. After the draft, he made a brief Single-A debut and later saw more time behind the plate when Bodine’s season ended early with an injury. But that chapter appears to be closed now.
Early in the AFL, Irish told FanGraphs that he developed the yips behind the plate in college, and that even basic tasks like getting the ball back to the pitcher became a real struggle. More recently, he explained the decision to MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis this way:
"I'm kind of relieved that I'm done with catching," Irish said. "I like to do one thing, and that's I like to hit. That's what we kind of came to was we believe in the bat a lot, and let's just let the bat play, and positionally, hey, we'll figure it out.
It's more about let's bang and then the cards will fall where they may. Let's just free up the bat," Irish said.
That’s the bet Baltimore is making. Rather than keep trying to nurse him through the mental side of catching, the Orioles are leaning into the bat and letting the defensive picture sort itself out at outfield and first base. It raises the stakes for his offense, but the organization clearly believes the upside is worth it.
So far, Irish has backed that up in Arizona. He’s hitting .328 with seven extra-base hits and more walks than strikeouts, showing no rust after missing the final two-plus months of the regular season. He has also flashed more than just the bat.
MLB’s Jesse Borek noted that Irish fired a throw from the outfield at 94.5 mph to hold a runner, a number that would have placed him in the 99th percentile among major league outfielders in 2026. That kind of arm goes a long way toward easing any doubts about whether he can handle right field.
There’s another layer here, too. Irish stole 20 bases in High-A and added five more in the AFL, while telling Callis that his body has changed since moving off catcher and that he believes he can be a bigger threat on the bases going forward. The Orioles have also been aggressive with the running game for prospects in High-A in recent seasons, taking advantage of catchers still working on their arm strength and accuracy.
Irish is likely to open 2027 in Double-A, but it probably won’t take long for him to move again if this keeps up. If the AFL is any indication, Baltimore may have found not just an impact bat, but a far more athletic player than the one it selected 19th overall.
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