The Buzz · November 9, 2026
The Buzz — Monday, November 9
The Fall Stars Game put three prospects on every timeline, and the numbers underneath each name tell a different story than the highlights.
Ike Irish
The take Orioles prospect Irish, back from knee surgery, delivers in Fall Stars Game
The knee is the whole piece. Irish tore his left meniscus shortly after the Futures Game, a sliding injury that ended his regular season and a promotion track to Double-A. He was hitting .915 with a 135 wRC+ at High-A Frederick when it happened, 16 homers and 20 steals in 76 games, and the Orioles sent him to the Arizona Fall League to get the at-bats back.
The Fall Stars Game was his national stage for the return, and the crowd blurred two plays into one. Irish had a walk, an infield RBI single, and reached on an error. The go-ahead run was not his. MLB.com gives that to Justin DeCriscio's bunt in the NL's decisive eighth-inning rally. Irish drove in a run in an exhibition his side lost 7-4. That is a fine day. It is not the moment being sold.
What holds up is the arm. A 94.5 mph throw from right field to hold a runner, made in his first game back from knee surgery, is the number that tells you nothing regressed. Through 15 AFL games he is hitting .327/.456/.491. He said the Fall League was a 50-50 call after surgery. The knee held, the bat produced, and the arm was already there. The takeaway is not the hit that trended. It is that the player MLB Pipeline ranks No. 95 overall is intact.
Ike Irish cards on eBay →(paid link)
Zion Rose
The take Top-10 pick leads off AFL All-Star game; hot fall
The leadoff spot is a nod to what Rose has done all fall, and the Fall Stars Game was the least of it. He walked, struck out twice, and got picked off, an ordinary line in a showcase. What earned him the top of the order is a .487 on-base percentage across 14 AFL games, driven by walks, with 13 steals behind it. The No. 6 overall pick homered once in 19 pro games before the AFL, and scouts' open question is whether he pulls the ball in the air enough to unlock the power. The fall is real. The game was a game.
Zion Rose cards on eBay →(paid link)
Jarlin Susana
The take Flamethrowing Nationals prospect opened AFL All-Star game, leads league in strikeouts
Susana leads the Arizona Fall League with 26 strikeouts in 18 2/3 innings, and the stuff behind it is as loud as advertised, with 103.8 mph on top and the 65 fastest pitches in the league this fall. In the Fall Stars Game he threw 102 mph or faster five times in one scoreless inning and struck out two batters looking on an 88 mph sweeper. The fastball and the breaking ball are not the project.
The strike zone is. Susana walked 11 in 20 1/3 regular-season innings this year, and his career walk rate is 4.8 per nine. He opened his AFL debut with 26 pitches and only 12 strikes. A pitcher who leads the Fall League in strikeouts and still walks nearly five a game is the exact prospect he has always been. The arm is ready, and the command is not.
Jarlin Susana cards on eBay →(paid link)
What the Fall League is for
Three prospects, three different reasons to be in Arizona. Irish is making up at-bats after knee surgery, Rose is getting extra development at the end of his draft year, and Susana is rebuilding innings after lat surgery. The Fall Stars Game is the part everyone watches, but the small samples are the part that matters, and they are small enough to cut either way. The guess is Irish reaches the majors first, because the knee was the only thing that stopped him, and the .915 OPS at Frederick is the line that made him MLB Pipeline's No. 95 prospect.