These Orioles players still have a chance to leave their mark on the WBC

The group stage of the World Baseball Classic has ended, and the bracket to the final is set. Eight of the twenty teams that began the tournament remain, while the other twelve have gone home. The Baltimore Orioles are well represented among the eight remaining teams, and some Orioles could play a major role in determining if their squad advances.

Here are the Orioles left in the tournament, what they've done so far, and what they'll have to do to help their teams advance.

Here are the Orioles to watch in the remaining World Baseball Classic games

Team USA

Gunnar Henderson

By the rate stats, Gunnar has been one of Team USA's best players; unfortunately, playing time has been hard for him to come by. Hopefully, his .500/.500/.900 slashline is enough to convince his manager that he's worthy of being an everyday player, or at least starting tomorrow against Canada.

For Orioles fans, the best part of having Henderson play in the WBC might be how it affects his play when he returns. Great athletes thrive on disrespect, and having to ride the bench in favor of Alex Bregman and Brice Turang is the most disrespect Henderson has experienced since his big league debut. If Henderson comes back to the Orioles with something to prove, fans will be thanking Mark DeRosa before the end of the 2026 season.

Team Canada

Tyler O'Neill

Since joining Team Canada, the red-hot bat O'Neill was swinging in spring training has cooled. However, while O'Neill hasn't been Team Canada's best hitter, he has been their best walker. He's walked five times in 4 games, including an RBI walk against fellow Oriole Rico Garcia on a pitch that 2025 Tyler O'Neill would have swung out of his shoes trying to hit. If O'Neill can bring this newfound plate discipline home to Baltimore, that would go a long way toward him recovering an everyday playing role.

As far as Team Canada goes, they're going to need O'Neill, as one of their most tenured MLB players, to do more than walk if they want to have a chance against Team USA in the quarterfinals.

Micah Ashman

Ashman reached the double-AA level last year at the end of the season, and was not even close to being invited to big league camp. So getting some experience in the WBC is mostly a good thing for him, even though his 0.2 innings of work went really poorly. It's unlikely he'll pitch again in the tournament.

Team Puerto Rico

Rico Garcia

Garcia has yet to surrender a run or a hit in the WBC, but he has handed out three walks so far, which is not great. Japan showed everyone last season that the path to victory in this tournament is to make good use of the bullpen, so he'll very likely be pressed into service against Italy in the quarterfinals.

Garcia is pretty much a lock for the Orioles bullpen, so his performance in this tournament doesn't mean too much for the Orioles except that they do need him to come home healthy.

Jose Espada

Espada has looked solid for Team Puerto Rico so far. Like Garcia, he has a zero ERA but has been in some hot water; he worked out of a bases-loaded jam in his last outing. It'll be all hands on deck vs. Team Italy on Friday, so keep an eye out for Espada to have a moment.

Back in Baltimore, Espada finds himself on the fringes of the Orioles roster, battling with several other relievers for the last couple of spots in the Orioles bullpen. It seems a little bit silly that WBC experience would factor heavily into the Orioles final roster decisions, but most of the guys on the very fringe of the roster have little to no MLB experience, so showing up in a big spot in the WBC could be the highest leverage experience they could get.

Luis Vasquez

Vasquez is playing a very similar bench role to the one he might play in Baltimore should he end up on the roster. With so few games left and teams wanting to put their best foot forward, it's unlikely that Vasquez plays in this tournament again unless Puerto Rico needs a pinch runner or end-of-game defensive replacement.