Orioles' Top Prospect Leads Group Headed to Fall Stars Game

Outfielder Ike Irish was expected to miss the Fall League after tearing his meniscus over the summer, but one of the top prospects for the Baltimore Orioles is instead heading to the Arizona Fall League's biggest game of the fall.

The Fall League announced its American League and National League rosters for the Fall Stars Game on Wednesday, and Irish made the American League team along with outfielder Vance Honeycutt and pitchers Braxton Bragg and Patrick Reilly, who all play for the Peoria Javelinas this fall.

The game is set for Sunday at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, with first pitch at 8 p.m. ET on MLB Network.

Irish is the Orioles' No. 5 prospect and No. 95 on MLB Pipeline's Top 100 list.

Baltimore took him in the first round of the 2025 Draft out of Auburn, and he hit .286 with 16 home runs in 343 plate appearances for High-A Frederick this year before tearing his left meniscus shortly after playing in the Futures Game.

Most people expected that injury to keep him out of the Fall League, but his knee recovered quickly.

He told MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo that the choice got easy once he trusted it again.

"As soon as I got confidence in it, it was a no-brainer. ... I want to play baseball. I'm watching games every night and I got the itch again and I was like, 'If I'm healthy, I'd love to play,'" Irish said.

He has not shown much rust, either, hitting .305 with a .438 on-base percentage and a .458 slugging percentage over 16 games with Peoria, and he was one of the hottest hitters in the minors before he got hurt.

The other three Orioles on the list have their own comeback stories, since Bragg's innings with Peoria this fall are his first since Tommy John surgery, and Reilly had the same surgery after three starts in 2025 before making it back to throw 53 innings this year.

Honeycutt, the club's first-round pick in 2024 out of North Carolina, seemed to find something after a late move to Double-A.

Getting four players into this game is a strong showing for a farm system that has already sent plenty of talent to Baltimore.

The Orioles have shown they will trust young players at key spots, like catcher Samuel Basallo, and Irish looks like the next bat who could push for a role.

The timing works for a club that went 79-82 and finished fourth in the American League East.

The front office has already made a busy run of roster moves this month, and president of baseball operations Mike Elias has said upgrades to the rotation are on the table, so prospects like these could be part of trade talks or part of the plan.

I would hold on to Irish, because he likes to go the other way, he can play the outfield and first base, and he came back from a major injury faster than most people expected, which is a good sign that he will be ready to push for Double-A early next season.