Australia's Final World Baseball Classic Roster
Australia's World Baseball Classic Roster has been finalised ahead of the 2 March tournament open with only one change from the original 28 man provisional roster RHP Shane Lindsay in for Peter Moylan who has signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
World Baseball Classic, Inc. today announced the final rosters of all sixteen Baseball Federations participating in the 2013 World Baseball Classic (WBC).
Many of the game’s elite stars and veterans of Major League Baseball (MLB), Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), the Korea Baseball Organisation (KBO) and other leagues including the Australian Baseball League (ABL) will participate in the third edition of the World Baseball Classic.
Australia’s roster features eight former Major Leaguers and two Olympic Silver Medalists including Ryan Rowland-Smith, Luke Hughes, Chris Oxspring and Justin Huber. Also named on the roster are well-known senior Australia players experienced with international tournaments including Brad Thomas, Chris Snelling, Brad Harman and brothers Matt and Tim Kennelly.
Speaking of his roster, Team Australia Manager Jon Deeble is confident in Australia’s talent: “I honestly believe we have a team that can get through the first round competition, against what is in my opinion the toughest pool in the WBC”.
This positive perspective is echoed by eight-time Team Australia representative Justin Huber who described the roster as “the best Australian team I’ve played on”.
Australia will open the Pool B competition on 2 March at 12:30pm at the Intercontinental Baseball Stadium in Taichung, Taiwan, against Chinese Taipei. Pool B also features the countries of Korea and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and will play round robin format from Saturday 2 March to Tuesday 5 March to determine the top two teams that will progress to Round 2 in Tokyo.
The World Baseball Classic, which is officially sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF), will for the first time in 2013 be recognised as the official national team World Championship, with the winner being crowned the 2013 World Baseball Classic Champion and the IBAF World Champion.
