Aaron Judge. Pete Crow-Armstrong. Bobby Witt Jr. Cal Raleigh. Bryce Harper.
Looking at that list of players, what possible correlation could they have? MVP candidates? All-Stars? Generational players?
Yes, some of those may be true. But the real answer is much more interesting: they were all sat down by Orioles pitching prospect Micah Ashman in the World Baseball Classic.
The 2026 WBC was the biggest stage of Ashman’s young career, and one of the biggest stages in the sport as a whole. The 23-year-old introduced himself to the baseball world with a bang.
When the Orioles acquired Ashman from the Detroit Tigers at the 2025 trade deadline, it would have been difficult to imagine the team getting much of anything in return for Charlie Morton. After a disappointing start to the season, Morton turned things around, going 7-1 with a 3.88 ERA over his final 11 starts with the Birds. That was enough for Detroit to take a chance on the veteran, sending Ashman to Baltimore in return.
Ashman was not a highly-touted prospect at the time. The Tigers selected him in the 11th round of the 2024 MLB Draft out of Utah, and he was unranked by MLB Pipeline when the Orioles acquired him.
Clearly, president of baseball operations and acting-GM Mike Elias and the rest of the Orioles front office saw something they liked.
Minor-League Stats — A+/AA (DET): 1.49 ERA | 42.1 IP | 50 K
His numbers were not nearly as impressive after arriving in Baltimore, as he posted a 4.80 ERA in his first stint with the organization. However, looking under the hood revealed plenty of reasons for optimism.
Even with the inflated ERA, Ashman struck out an elite 38.3% of the batters he faced while walking just 6.7%. His 1.97 xFIP was nearly three full runs lower than his actual ERA, suggesting that poor results on balls in play and some bad luck played a significant role.
The Orioles clearly saw enough to allow Ashman an opportunity to represent his home country, Canada, in the World Baseball Classic. Then came March 13 in Houston.
Canada was fighting for its life in an elimination game against Team USA. The Americans were building momentum, scoring three runs and threatening to break the game open. That’s when Canadian manager Ernie Whitt turned to his bullpen.
When those bullpen gates opened, out came Ashman, a pitcher who had never appeared in a game above the Double-A level.
Three pitches later, Team USA outfielder Roman Anthony was headed back to the dugout. Ashman continued his dominance, recording outs against Cal Raleigh, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Bobby Witt Jr., Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge and Kyle Schwarber.
His final line: 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 2 K’s.
For a brief moment, Birdland was buzzing. However, the buzz quickly began to fade.
Ashman went back to work, continuing to develop into one of the more intriguing arms in the Orioles system. As of August 15, FanGraphs ranks him as the No. 38 prospect in the organization, while MLB Pipeline still has him unranked.
Yes, he is a reliever, and that will naturally limit his value in prospect rankings. But Ashman has the makings of an elite bullpen weapon: an exceptional strikeout rate, excellent control and the ability to generate soft contact.
Perhaps most importantly, he has already shown that he is not afraid of the moment. He walked into an elimination game against Team USA and made some of the best hitters in the world look ordinary.
Baltimore desperately needs a high-leverage left-handed reliever. Maybe they already have one in the making.
Do not be late to the Micah Ashman party.
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