Who To Watch In The WBC: Roman Anthony Powers U.S., Fernando Tatis Jr. Stars For Dominican Republic

After a little more than a week of round-robin play, with some dramatic finishes, Friday marks the beginning of the knockout rounds in the World Baseball Classic. In the first two of four quarterfinal games, the U.S. squares off against Canada, and South Korea takes on the Dominican Republic.

As we all know, the Americans needed a win by Italy in the final Pool B game to advance as the second-place team in the group. Canada, meanwhile, won a tiebreaker to be the top seed from Pool A. That tiebreaker was a 3-2 upset of Puerto Rico, which also finished 3-1 in the group that played in San Juan.

The Dominican Republic has felt like the best team in the WBC, going 4-0, including a 7-5 win over Venezuela to win Group D. South Korea survived a three-team tiebreaker after finishing 2-2 in Pool C to advance. Australia and Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) also finished 2-2 in Pool C.

The U.S.-Canada quarterfinal is interesting for many reasons, but takes on a little extra following the Olympics, where the American men's and women's hockey teams beat the Canadians for the gold medal. Will the U.S. make it 3-for-3, or will Canada win the matchup in America's pastime?

The semifinal pairings will be reseeded following the finish of the quarterfinals.

Here are some players to keep an eye on today:

Roman Anthony, United States

Playing alongside a bunch of All-Stars and current and former MVPs, the still-21-year-old Boston Red Sox left fielder has shown that he belongs on this roster. After a solid start to spring training, 5-for-19 (.263/.300/.316), Anthony has taken a step up at the WBC, going 5-for-15 (.333/.474/.533) with a no-doubt, three-run homer that put the U.S. up 5-0 over Mexico. Anthony, who has started all four WBC games, was the No. 1 prospect in baseball last year when he made his MLB debut in early June, then went out and put up a .292/.396/.463 with eight homers and 32 RBIs in 71 games. While he has impressive power, he topped out at 18 homers in 2024, a number that he figures to topple in a full MLB season.

Josh Naylor, Canada

After a superb finish to the regular season with the Seattle Mariners and having a few big moments in the postseason, including three homers, the 28-year-old first baseman has been part of the relatively no-name nucleus that has carried Canada to the quarterfinals. Naylor has gone 4-for-16 with two RBIs, a run scored, and a steal in the WBC. The offense hasn't been that impressive, posting the ninth-best OPS in the tournament and seventh of the eight quarterfinal teams at .713. Naylor will also be a big part of the Mariners' offense in 2026. Will he repeat his 19-for-19 stolen-base performance in 54 games that he did with the M's?

Fernando Tatis Jr., Dominican Republic

The clear-cut star of pool play was the 27-year-old San Diego Padres right fielder. Tatis hit the first grand slam in WBC history in the Dominican Republic's 10-1 win over Israel on Monday, then followed that up with a three-run blast in a 7-5 triumph over Venezuela to seal first place in the pool. Both came with beautiful bat flips. Tatis is hitting .462 (6-for-13) with nine RBIs and six runs scored, both tied for second-most in the WBC. The Dominicans, with the deepest lineup in the event, have an amazing 1.130 OPS in the four games, which leads the tournament, while scoring a WBC-best 41 runs. Tatis has been hitting leadoff for the Dominican Republic, but could be hitting somewhere else in the top four of the Padres' lineup.

Bo Gyeong Moon, South Korea

Who leads the WBC in RBIs after pool play? That would be the 25-year-old corner infielder for the LG Twins in the Korea Baseball Organization, who has driven in 11 in four games, a record for the first round of the WBC. The left-handed slugger has two home runs and two doubles in his 7-for-13 (.538) showing thus far. Considering his age, it would be curious if Moon would consider a move to MLB after this season. In five KBO seasons, Moon has a .289/.370/.455, hitting 22 and 24 homers in each of the last two seasons.