Former Orchard Lake St. Mary's baseball stars Ike Irish and Nolan Schubart were drafted in the top three rounds of the 2025 MLB Draft.
A pair of high school teammates from metro Detroit are headed to professional baseball after being selected in the first three rounds of the 2025 MLB draft.
Former Orchard Lake St. Mary's stars and teammates Ike Irish and Nolan Schubart are joining MLB organizations after hearing their names called during the first day of the MLB draft on Sunday, July 13. The Baltimore Orioles drafted Irish with the 19th overall pick in the first round, and the Cleveland Guardians selected Schubart with the 101st overall pick in the third round.
Irish, a catcher and outfielder, and Schubart, an outfielder, were teammates on St. Mary's record-breaking teams in 2021 and 2022. St. Mary's went a combined 87-1 in those two seasons, including a state-record 44-win undefeated season in 2022. Irish drove in Schubart with an RBI fielder's choice for the only run in the 1-0 win over Grosse Pointe North in the 2022 Division 1 state championship game.
"One of the smartest baseball players I've ever been around," St. Mary's assistant coach Theo Piccirilli, who has been coaching the Eaglets since 2016, said of Irish. "At the plate, just his overall approach of being able to hit the ball to all fields. He had a wonderful two-strike approach, great power as well, (and) he just controlled the strike zone."
Irish, a top prospect coming out of high school, played collegiately for Auburn, where he immediately started 58 games and hit .361 with 50 RBIs as a freshman. He hit .319 with 14 home runs and 58 RBIs as a sophomore, followed by hitting .364 with 19 home runs and 58 RBIs as a junior in 2025. For his Auburn career, Irish had a slash line of .350/.435/.625 with 39 home runs in 748 plate appearances.
Irish became the first St. Mary's athlete, regardless of sport, to be selected in the first round of a professional sports league draft.
"Ike is a fierce competitor," Piccirilli said. "He is a guy you want on your team and hate playing against. He is super competitive. Seeing the best pitching every day, and I think he hit .364) prepared him to be that first-round draft pick for the Orioles."
Schubart, originally committed to Michigan, ended up playing in college at Oklahoma State following a coaching change in Ann Arbor. In Stillwater, Schubart primarily played in left or right field. As a freshman, he hit .338 with 17 homers and 74 RBIs in 61 games. He hit .370 with 23 home runs and 68 RBIs in 49 games as a sophomore and finished his final season by hitting .300 with 19 home runs and 57 RBIs in 2025. He slashed .334/.425/.705 with 59 home runs in 740 plate appearances at Oklahoma State.
"Seeing that power he had in BP and just translate to games — it's the best power I've ever seen in high school," Piccirilli said, referencing Schubart's towering home runs over the right-field tower at St. Mary's home field.
They are the fourth St. Mary's players to be drafted from the team that sustained an 84-game winning streak, which included three straight state championships from 2019 through 2022 (there were no champions in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). The Texas Rangers drafted right-handed pitcher Brock Porter in the fourth round of the 2022 draft, and the Guardians took infielder Alex Mooney in the seventh round of the 2023 draft.
"It's super special and pretty rare," Piccirilli said. "As an alumnus, it's even more exciting for me to see Ike become the first first-round pick in St. Mary's history in any sport. It's a full-circle moment."
2 more locals drafted early
Flushing graduate Jacob Morrison, who played college baseball at Coastal Carolina, was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers with the 94th overall pick in the third round. Morrison, a right-handed pitcher, was named the Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year in 2025 while helping the Chanticleers reach the College Baseball World Series. Morrison was 12-1 with a 2.42 ERA with 104 strikeouts in 18 starts in 2025 for Coastal Carolina.
Star Bay City Western pitcher Luke LaCourse, committed to Michigan State, was selected by the Los Angeles Angels with the 169th pick in the sixth round on Monday, July 14. LaCourse was named Michigan's Mr. Baseball in 2025 by the MHSBCA after leading Bay City Western to a second consecutive Division 1 state semifinal appearance. LaCourse went 8-3 with a 1.68 ERA in 2025 as the ace for a 36-win Bay City Western team.
Jared Ramsey covers high school sports for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at [email protected]; Follow Jared on X or Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 2 Orchard Lake St. Mary's stars picked in top 3 rounds of MLB draft
Category: General Sports
