Inside The Orioles

Orioles Select Ike Irish With 19th Pick in First Round of 2025 MLB Draft

The Baltimore Orioles have selected catcher/outfielder Ike Irish with the 19th pick in the first round of the 2025 MLB draft.
Dylan Sanders|
Auburn Tigers' Ike Irish (18) celebrates after hitting a double against the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils during the NCAA Regional Baseball Tournament at Plainsman Park in Auburn, Ala., on Friday May 30, 2025.
Auburn Tigers' Ike Irish (18) celebrates after hitting a double against the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils during the NCAA Regional Baseball Tournament at Plainsman Park in Auburn, Ala., on Friday May 30, 2025. | Mickey Welsh / Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Baltimore Orioles

The Baltimore Orioles have a ton of draft picks near the top of the 2025 MLB draft, and the first one ended up being Auburn Tigers catcher/outfielder Ike Irish with the No. 19 overall selection.

Irish was one of the top stars in college baseball this past season for the Tigers and comes with some positional versatility.

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The 21-year-old played catcher for years, but switched over to the outfield this past season to prioritize working on his bat.

He was announced as a catcher during the draft, which might give a hint as to where he could be playing for the Orioles. If he could play a solid catcher while hitting like he showed he could in college, then the value at No. 19 would be fantastic.

Irish posted a .364/.469/.710 slash line with 19 home runs, 58 RBI and 11 stolen bases in 55 games this past year. He had a wRC+ of 152 as he dominated elite competition in the SEC.

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That now gives Baltimore similar prospects in Samuel Basallo, Creed Willems and Ethan Anderson while already having Adley Rutschman.

They can't all play catcher for the Orioles, so some decisions will have to be made.

For a while, it looked like Rutschman would spend his entire career in Baltimore. He's still under team control through 2027, but weaker showings in back-to-back years at the plate open the door for more possibilities for the Orioles.

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Next up in the draft, Baltimore will pick back-to-back with the Nos. 30 and 31 selections in the compensatory round.

For more Orioles news, head over to Orioles On SI.

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Dylan Sanders
DYLAN SANDERS

Dylan Sanders graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree from the Manship School of Mass Communication in 2023. He was born in raised in Baton Rouge, LA but has also lived in Buffalo, NY. Though he is a recent graduate, he has been writing about sports since he was in high school, covering different sports from baseball to football. While in college, he wrote for the school paper The Reveille and for 247Sports. He was able cover championships in football, baseball and women's basketball during his time at LSU. He has also spent a few years covering the NFL draft and every day activities of the New Orleans Saints. He is a Senior Writer at Inside the Marlins and will also be found across Sports Illustrated's baseball sites as a contributing writer. You can follow him on Twitter or Instagram @dillysanders

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