Jon Meoli: Breaking down the prospects who make the Orioles’ 2025 draft class its most encouraging in years

After the Orioles’ early drafts under Mike Elias were defined by early-round hits who within a few years were helping the major league team make the playoffs, the returns from the club’s recent hauls have been more mixed.

They’ve picked later in the first round and have been more willing to use prospects from the first day of the draft in trades for major league help. Even having done that with their massive 2025 draft class, it’s still shaping up as one of the most promising groups the Orioles have put together in years.

Ike Irish and Wehiwa Aloy, the two first-round picks remaining from the class after Caden Bodine and Slater de Brun were sent to Tampa Bay in the Shane Baz trade, had strong first halves at High-A Frederick. First-day pitchers Joseph Dzierwa and JT Quinn started breakout campaigns there, and sixth-round lefty Caden Hunter is enjoying similar success there after starting at Low-A Delmarva.

It’s a group that, as it stands now, is generating a lot of enthusiasm within the Orioles organization. Here’s how their seasons have gone so far.

Ike Irish

Announced as a catcher when the Orioles took him 16th overall last year out of Auburn, Irish is playing the outfield and first base exclusively this year. The Orioles are plenty confident he can hit enough to profile at those positions, and Irish said earlier this season that he “feels free on the field” after the switch. A fractured scapula kept him from catching much his junior year, which gave him a “totally different perspective,” as removing catching from his workload allowed him to be the hitter he believed he could be.

“For me it was going back to what I do well, which is drive the ball to the back side of the field,” he said. “That just totally opens up my entire game, and I know my swing is right when I’m hitting balls there, and on occasion, hitting the ball to the pull-side in the air. That’s just been my focus, doing what I do best and that’s driving the ball.”

Entering Tuesday, Irish had an .857 OPS and 12 home runs while walking 13.7% of the time. His focus has been on elevating the ball, and hitting coach Jake Ratz said a more balanced setup allows Irish to do so.

“He does so many things so well,” Ratz said. “He does such a great job of controlling the strike zone. He’s able to make contact, and when he does make contact, he hits it hard.”

Wehiwa Aloy

When Aloy, the 31st pick, arrived at Delmarva last year, the reigning Golden Spikes Award winner as the nation’s best college player made an immediate impression on manager Collin Woody.

“We’re just so fortunate that he went where he did in the draft because talent-wise, I can’t believe he wasn’t one of the first five picks in the draft,” said Woody, who now manages Frederick.

Aloy entered Tuesday hitting .271 with a .791 OPS and 13 home runs in an overall uneven season. He surged into May and a three-homer game on May 10 gave him 10 to that point, but a slower June, where his strikeouts ticked up, slowed his momentum.

“I think Wehiwa has done a good job of staying steady with his thoughts and his processes and recognizing the game is adjusting to him a little bit,” Woody said last month.

Joseph Dzierwa

No pitcher has moved as quickly through the Orioles system in recent years as Dzierwa, the 58th overall pick out of Michigan State. The 22-year-old left-hander was promoted out of Frederick in May after eight starts with a 2.21 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, and 11.1 strikeouts per nine. In nine outings at Double-A Chesapeake, he has a 2.38 ERA with a 0.97 WHIP and 11.1 strikeouts per nine.

Dzierwa is fourth in all the minors in strikeouts (106), and his 0.90 WHIP is third-best among minor league pitchers with at least 60 innings pitched.

JT Quinn

Quinn was a swingman at Georgia who made an adjustment in his delivery playing summer ball in Cape Cod before the draft and shot up the Orioles’ board. They took him 69th overall and he’s overwhelmed High-A hitters in his pro debut. Quinn has a 3.25 ERA with a 1.14 WHIP and 9.75 strikeouts per nine as he gets used to a heavier workload than he’s ever had.

He’s sustained his fastball velocity in the mid-to-upper-90s throughout starts, and pitching coach Jordie Henry said he’s made strides in both his two-seam usage and with his changeup, complementing the swing-and-miss slider and curveball he came out of college with.

Henry said Quinn’s emphasis on building up his workload rather than adding pitches at this stage allows him to start working on development points typically reserved for the high minors, such as “making sure we’re using the right pitches and the pitch mix and just executing it to those locations.

“You get to have a head start over guys who are starting to work on that,” Henry said. “It’s just that much easier when you already have four or five pitches that are plus-plus shapes.”

Jaiden Lo Re

A fifth-round pick out of Corona del Sol High School in Arizona, Lo Re made quick work of the Florida Complex League with a .354 average and .883 OPS before he was promoted to Delmarva at the beginning of June. He was just named the organizational hitter of the month for his first month in Low-A, a level where the 19-year-old Lo Re is batting .326 with a .900 OPS.

Between the two levels, Lo Re has more walks (27) than strikeouts (16) while playing third base, center field, second base and shortstop.

Caden Hunter

Hunter pitched through a knee injury as Southern California’s Friday starter and didn’t have the junior year that he hoped for, and the Orioles are seeing production thus far that far exceeds expectations for a sixth-round pick. In pro ball, the lefty’s four-seam fastball has been consistently in the mid-90s and up to 98 mph, and its carry at the top of the zone allows it to miss bats at an elite level.

Between Low-A Delmarva and High-A Frederick, Hunter has struck out 13.3 batters per nine with a 1.46 ERA and 1.10 WHIP. His changeup is his clear second pitch, but he credits both his physical development that’s allowed his fastball to be firmer and the separation of his curveball and slider as distinct pitches as catalysts for his strong pro debut.

“Last year I had a little get-me-over [breaking ball] but it wasn’t as big, separation and velocity,” he said. “My slider is a little harder, more swing and miss, curveball kind of keeps them off balance and gets them out in front. But I think having the separation in speeds and shapes, that’s huge for this year, and I feel like that’s why I’m having the success I am so far.”