WBC Team Preview: Australia
Baseball has been growing in Australia since the modern professional league’s formation in 2009, aided by 165 MLB players participating over the years during the MLB offseason including Ronald Acuña Jr. They are not lacking home grown talent which includes Liam Hendriks and the first pick in the 2024 draft Travis Bazzana.
Notable Players
Travis Bazzana, Liam Hendriks, Max Durrington, Curtis Mead, Mitch Neunborn, and Blake Townsend are all MLB affiliated players on Australia’s World Baseball Classic roster. Bazzana is a player to watch as he could be debuting in the majors as soon as this 2026 season. In 2025, his first professional season, he slashed .245/.389/.424/.813 with nine homers and 12 stolen bases in 84 games. He ended the season in Triple-A. He is expected to be the leadoff hitter.
Robbie Glendinning returns after his 2023 WBC heroics after splitting 2025 between the Australian Baseball League and the American Association Independent League. Former Rockies prospect Robbie Perkins will be catching behind the plate after slashing .311/.389/.598/.988 in the Australian Baseball League.
On the pitching side, 24-year-old Blake Townsend is coming off a season in the Pirates’ farm system where he threw 92 innings, posting a 1.76 ERA and 1.04 WHIP.
Lachlan Wells is expected to anchor the rotation. He pitched in Korea with the Kiwoom Hereos in 2025. He had a 3.60 ERA across 20 innings. Lastly, Liam Hendriks will join Team Australia in the bullpen again in 2026.
Liam Hendriks. Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports
Notable Coaches
Dave Nilsson will manage Team Australia. He spent eight years with the Brewers slashing .284/.356/.461/.817 with 105 homers and 470 RBIs. He represented Australia in the Olympics in 2000.
Bench coach Michael Collins was the catching coach for the Houston Astros 2022 World Series team, bullpen coach Graeme Lloyd became the first Australian born player to win a World Series ring when he pitched for the 1996 Yankees, and hitting coach Chris Adamson currently serves as the Phillies Triple-A bench coach.
WBC History
Australia has competed in the World Baseball Classic five times. They did not win a game in 2006 or 2013, but had one of their best games in 2009, triggering the mercy rule against Mexico with a 17-7 score in the eighth inning. In total they have triggered the mercy rule three times. In addition to 2009 they triggered it in 2017 against China, (11-0 in the eighth inning), and in 2023 against China as well (12-2 in the seventh inning).
In the 2023 World Baseball Classic Australia placed seventh and they will look to place even higher this year.
Pool
Australia is in Pool C with Japan, South Korea, Czechia, and Chinese-Taipei. Their first game is against Chinese-Taipei on March 4, in the Tokyo Dome.
It would be a surprise if Japan and Korea do not move to the next round, but last WBC Australia was full of surprises.
For a ranking of all 20 teams by MMO, click here.
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