Orioles excite fans with announcement they're sending their 2 fastest rising prospects to the Futures Game

The Baltimore Orioles will have two representatives at the MLB Futures Game. Outfielder Ike Irish and starting pitcher Joseph Dzierwa were both taken in last year's draft, Irish in the first round and Dzierwa in the second. Both have had excellent seasons and have begun to rise up various prospect ranking lists. Irish recently cracked the MLB Pipeline top 100, and if Dzierwa continues his season, he'll finish the year as the Orioles' consensus top pitching prospect.

The Orioles were once regular main characters at the Futures Game. From 2021 to 2024, the Orioles sent the number one prospect in all of baseball to the Futures Game three times: Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, and Jackson Holliday. The one time in that stretch they didn't have the number one prospect in all of baseball at the Futures Game, their representative was Samuel Basallo, who might be better than all three of the Orioles number one prospects.

The Orioles are sending top prospects to the Futures Game against

However, as the Orioles farm system has taken a step back thanks to numerous graduations and trades, the excitement over who the Orioles will send to this exhibition has waned. Last year, the Orioles sent 27-year-old relief pitcher prospect Keegan Gillies as their lone representative at the Futures Game. Gillies is an interesting arm who may one day find a role in the Orioles bullpen, but it's fair to observe that he is not one of the best prospects in the game.

Irish and Dzwierwa still don't have quite the notoriety of some of the Orioles’ previous top prospects, but the fact that they have both progressed so well in such a short amount of time since being drafted should be exciting for Orioles fans. As the trend of college-drafted players progressing quickly through the minors continues, Orioles fans can look at these two successful draft picks and their progress and dream that they may arrive at the big leagues as soon as next year to provide reinforcements for a team that has been stuck in the mud for the past two seasons.

Irish has the potential to be the impact offensive player in a corner outfield spot, which is something the Orioles have deeply missed since they lost Anthony Santander. Currently, the future of the Orioles outfield is Colton Cowser, who appears to be more of a defense-first player; Dylan Beavers, who is still trying to prove himself but, even if he reaches his potential, is more of an all-around kind of player; and, assuming he gets called up soon, Enrique Bradfield Jr., who is almost a defense-only prospect at this point. Irish's bat would be a great addition to that group. So far this season he slashing .265/.384/.462 with 10 home runs in 64 games

Dzierwa is an especially interesting case. He is the Orioles' highest-drafted pitcher ever under Mike Elias and so far looks like one of the Orioles' best draft picks in years. So far, across two levels this season, Dzierwa has a 2.48 ERA with 96 Ks in just 76.1 innings. He transitioned from High-A to Double-A flawlessly, and if anything, he's been more effective against better competition.

He's got command and uses it to attack batters; nobody in Double-A has been in the zone more than him this year. He also gets swing-and-miss on pitches in the zone at an elite rate, so it's not like he's pitching to contact and relying on good BABIP; hitters genuinely have a hard time touching his stuff even when it's within reach.

With Dzierwa already excelling in Double-A, it seems likely that a Triple-A call-up is not far down the road for him, and if he continues to excel, he could even make his MLB debut this season.

Orioles fans should tune into the Futures Game this year to see how their up-and-comers stack up against some of the other top prospects in the game.

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