{"id":229439,"date":"2026-02-13T12:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T22:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=229439"},"modified":"2026-02-13T14:54:43","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T00:54:43","slug":"ickes-emerges-as-mlb-prospect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/02\/13\/ickes-emerges-as-mlb-prospect\/","title":{"rendered":"Baseball \u2018Bow Ickes emerges as one of Hawai\u2018i\u2019s next top <abbr>MLB<\/abbr> prospects"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> &lt; 1<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minute<\/span><\/span><div class=\"responsive-video-wrap-post\"><figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_30931\"  width=\"676\" height=\"380\"  data-origwidth=\"676\" data-origheight=\"380\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iuTYoeYuxLU?enablejsapi=1&origin=https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu&rel=0&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"Decision To Go To School, Represent Hawai\u2018i Paying Off For Elijah Ickes\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div>\n<p>After being selected in the 19th round of the 2023 <abbr title=\"Major League Baseball\">MLB<\/abbr> Draft by the Texas Rangers, Elijah Ickes faced a choice many young baseball players only dream about&#8212;sign a professional contract or bet on himself in college. The former Kamehameha Schools standout chose to stay home and continue his development with the <a href=\"https:\/\/hawaiiathletics.com\/sports\/baseball\">University of <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa baseball<\/a> team.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/manoa-ickes-mlb-prospect-214x300.jpeg\" alt=\"Elijah Ickes\" width=\"214\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-229443\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/manoa-ickes-mlb-prospect-214x300.jpeg 214w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/manoa-ickes-mlb-prospect-93x130.jpeg 93w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/manoa-ickes-mlb-prospect.jpeg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 214px) 100vw, 214px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Now a draft-eligible junior, Ickes is projected to take over as the starting shortstop in 2026 and has emerged as one of the state\u2019s top professional prospects. He said family played a major role in his decision, valuing the opportunity to represent <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> and compete in front of loved ones at Les Murakami Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>Drafted while playing summer ball in Canada, Ickes described the moment as &ldquo;awesome, hectic and relieving,&rdquo; but ultimately trusted the Rainbow Warrior coaching staff to help him grow. He said college baseball has provided greater exposure and development than he would have received out of high school.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;In the end, you just have to trust yourself, believe in yourself,&rdquo; Ickes said. &ldquo;For me, it was the coaching staff here &#8212; they had the tools and the experience that helped me get so much better. These past years, they&#8217;ve done so much for me, and I feel like I made that right choice of coming to college and experiencing it all.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>A former fan in the stands, Ickes now embraces a leadership role in the clubhouse, mentoring younger teammates in the era of <abbr title=\"Name Image and Likeness\">NIL<\/abbr> and the transfer portal.<\/p>\n<p>As he enters a pivotal junior season, Ickes is focused on winning games and enjoying his time in a <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> uniform, knowing that wherever baseball takes him next, he will continue to represent the Islands.<\/p>\n<p>Read more about Ickes at <a href=\"https:\/\/hawaiiathletics.com\/news\/2026\/2\/11\/baseball-decision-to-go-to-school-represent-hawai-i-paying-off-for-ickes.aspx\">Hawaiiathletics.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/manoa-baseball-ickes-at-bat.jpg\" alt=\"Elijah Ickes at bat\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-229452\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/manoa-baseball-ickes-at-bat.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/manoa-baseball-ickes-at-bat-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/manoa-baseball-ickes-at-bat-130x73.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Drafted in 2023, Elijah Ickes chose <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa over going pro, becoming the one of the state\u2019s top prospects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":229452,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1362],"tags":[58,1491,660,9,550,56],"class_list":["post-229439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","tag-athletics","tag-baseball","tag-student-recognition","tag-uh-manoa","tag-manoa-athletics","tag-video-2","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/manoa-baseball-ickes-at-bat.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229439"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":229454,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229439\/revisions\/229454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}