The Orioles have once again used their first-round pick on a left-handed college outfielder. No, it’s okay, it’s not that one. They grabbed Auburn’s Ike Irish, who is also kind of a catcher, with their first round pick at #19 overall in the 2025 Draft.

Irish, who is listed at 6’2” and 201 lbs., is a player who was not expected to slide down to the Orioles ahead of the Draft. He is rated several places higher than #19 in just about any prospect list of the class. At FanGraphs, Irish is 10th. MLB Pipeline had him at 11th, as did ESPN. Baseball America placed Irish 13th. He was the highest-rated available player on every one of these lists and the Orioles went and took him.

Why is he listed as a catcher/outfielder? Irish has been a catcher up until this season, but he suffered a fracture in his throwing shoulder when hit by a pitch during his college junior season, so Auburn moved him out to the outfield to keep him in action. Pipeline writes of Irish, “There’s a growing sense that he’d be better off maximizing his offense by sticking in the outfield, and he moves and throws well enough to get the job done in right.”

From Baseball America’s report on Irish:

He has good rhythm and a solid understanding of the zone, with a swing that can get long at times but typically stays in the hitting zone and comes through with impressive bat speed. He has hammered 92+ mph velocity and has a solid blend of contact ability, on-base skills and power with a chance to be an above-average pure hitter who hits 20-25 home runs per season.

Irish is fresh off a junior season where he batted .364/.469/.710 with 19 home runs in 55 games for Auburn. College stats only tell us so much, but those are certainly some good numbers and that’s against big competition in the SEC. Crucially, when compared against last year’s first round pick Vance Honeycutt and frequently-suggested 2025 first round pick Jace LaViolette, he hasn’t been striking out a lot, about a 14% rate in his junior year.

Does he have a chance to end up as a catcher instead? FanGraphs on Irish:

Will pop close to 1.90 but often fumbles his exchange, fair receiver and pitch framer, but not a good ball-blocker right now … whatever teams are highest on him are probably so because they think he might stay behind the plate.

One of my absolutely useless but fun ways of evaluating Orioles prospect acquisitions is to imagine someone saying in the most Baltimore accent caricature possible, “Let’s go, (player name), hit a three-run home run right now, hon!” Does Ike Irish fit with the classic funny sounds with the vowel O? Not really, but it’s not a bad name for the accent anyway.

The slot value for the #19 pick in the Draft is $4,420,900. That’s the largest chunk of the Orioles’ record-setting bonus pool of over $19 million. It is possible that Irish will actually take a bit of an over-slot bonus to sign here, since he was a higher-ranked talent and he slid, or he might have had to settle for the #19 pick slot money to be taken and not slide even farther.

The Orioles will make an additional three picks before the second round of the Draft even begins. They have selections at #30 and #31 as compensation for losing Corbin Burnes and Anthony Santander as free agents, and at #37 from the trade of Bryan Baker to the Rays. In all, the Orioles have six more picks to make on Day 1 of the Draft.