World Baseball Classic: Team Australia News, Notes, and Analysis

This roster consists of some of the all-time greats of the Australian Baseball League, and even an active major leaguer, but all eyes will be on one man in this tournament. The national audience will see this WBC as Travis Bazzana’s introduction to the big stage.

Before he came to America to play college baseball for Oregon State, before he was selected by the Cleveland Guardians as the first pick in the 2024 MLB draft (making him the first Australian to be taken in the first round), this moment was on Bazzana’s agenda.

While playing for Team Australia’s 18U national team at age 17, Bazzana opened the notes app on his phone and created a vision for his country: His idea for a Team Australia lineup in the 2025 WBC. Confident in his future abilities, Bazzana put himself hitting leadoff and playing second base. While the year in question changed due to rescheduling caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the dream remained the same.

Bazzana doesn’t just want to represent his country. He wants to put his home on the baseball map.

“I really hope that we can make a great run in that tournament,” Bazzana said in a 2023 interview. “And just spur growth of the game of baseball in Australia.”

But it’s not just Bazzana that will be heading this offense. White Sox utility infielder Curtis Mead will also make his WBC debut this year. The 25-year-old Mead is the only member of this team to have appeared in an MLB game over the last three seasons.

ABL legends Tim Kennelly and Robbie Glendinning will be among those returning to the squad after making key contributions in 2023.

Kennelly, who turns 40 in December of this year, will play in his fourth WBC for his home country. He has played in the ABL since 2010, and he is the league’s all-time leader in hits (520), RBI (259) and games played (466). In 2023, Kennelly hit .250 with a .900 OPS in 21 WBC plate appearances.

Glendinning, who was in the minor leagues as recently as 2023, will make his second World Baseball Classic appearance for Team Australia. The 30-year-old infielder played a vital role in the last WBC, hitting a pivotal go-ahead home run in the win against Korea.

This homer was one of two hit by Glendinning during the tournament and contributed to the .991 OPS he posted throughout.

These are two of the six returning position players for Team Australia that posted an OPS of at least .900 in the last WBC. The others include Alex Hall, Logan Wade, Jarryd Dale and Rixon Wingrove.

Also returning from last year’s group is outfielder Aaron Whitefield, the only position player on this roster aside from Mead with MLB experience. Whitefield totaled 12 plate appearances with the 2020 Minnesota Twins and 2022 Los Angeles Angels, though he failed to reach base.

Pitching staff

If you’re new to Australian baseball, you may not know any of these names. But fear not, because you will almost certainly see all of them on the mound throughout the tournament, no matter what kind of run the team makes. The team used at least five pitchers in four of the five games they played in during the 2023 WBC. No pitcher recorded more than eight outs in any outing throughout the five games.

Three of the 15 pitchers on this roster were also on the 2023 team. Left-hander Jack O’Loughlin tossed 9.2 innings for the 2024 Oakland Athletics, posting a 4.66 ERA and 4.82 FIP in the process. The 25-year-old was most recently in the Rockies organization before moving back to the ABL. O’Loughlin started the game against Korea in 2023 and pitched two shutout innings.

Warwick Saupold threw 106.2 innings for the Tigers across three seasons in the mid 2010s. He has since gone back to the ABL, where he has pitched to a 4.01 ERA across 14 seasons.

Lastly, among former major leaguers, Alex Wells recorded a 6.60 ERA in 46.1 innings with the 2021-2022 Baltimore Orioles. In the 2024-2025 ABL season, he posted a 1.55 ERA in 58 innings with the Sydney Blue Sox.

O’Loughlin and Saupold are two of the eight returning pitchers from the 2023 roster. The others include Coen Wynne, Todd Van Steensel, Blake Townsend, Jon Kennedy, Sam Holland and Mitch Nuenborn. Each of those eight, with the exceptions of Holland and Nuenborn, kept their ERA under 2.00 in the last WBC.

Alex Wells is a newcomer to the roster, while his twin brother Lachlan returns after pitching for Australia in 2027. The Wells twins will be sharing the biggest stage for the first time. Lachlan pitched in two games during the 2017 tournament, holding a 13.50 ERA in 2.2 innings. He most recently pitched to a 3.15 ERA in 20 innings for the Kiwoom Heroes in the KBO in 2025.

Coaching Staff

Returning for his second tournament as the head of this team, Dave Nilsson has been a staple of Australian baseball for decades.

In 1992, Nilsson became just the third Australian-born player to appear in the majors. He spent seven years catching for the Milwaukee Brewers and even made an All-Star team in 1999. To this day, he remains the only catcher from Australia in MLB history. At age 36, Nilsson played for Team Australia in the 2006 WBC.

With a goal to replicate or outdo their success from last time, Team Australia draws a similar pool to the one they went 3-1 in 2023. If everything plays out the way it’s expected, the team’s game against Korea will likely define whether or not they advance past pool play.

World Baseball Classic: Team Australia Schedule

Pool Play

Knockout Rounds