Team GB have played two warm-up games in preparation for the World Baseball Classic, and they’ve emerged from these games undefeated. Beating the Brewers 7-3 and splitting the second 2-2 against the Padres.
The Good
GB’s co-captains both have deposited a ball out of the field, with a home run each. Harry Ford and Jazz Chisholm Jr. have shown that they are ready for this tournament. And ready to lead from the front.
The team’s hopes don’t live or die based on the performance of these two, but if they are both in good form, then Team GB could prove tricky opponents for all the teams in the group.
The GB pitchers gave up just five runs over 12 innings across both games when one of their own pitchers actually pitched (both games started with 3-inning starts from a player from their opponents). Which is a good sign.
The defence was particularly clean, with just one error from Jazz; this hasn’t assuaged me that the horrors of the infield defence from 2023 won’t be repeated in 2026, but it’s a sign that it hopefully will be much cleaner this time around.
B.J. Murray went 5-for-6 with a double and four singles, which will have delighted the GB coaches and really locked him into the first base slot and a middle-order hitting slot.
The Bad
There weren’t many strikeouts from the pitchers, just six across the two games. Pitching is where this Team GB team is probably at its weakest, and if they can’t pick that number up in their games in the tournament, then they will be heavily reliant on some batted ball luck and excellent defence to get through some games.
The Known
Nate Eaton, Jazz, Harry, B.J. Murray and Trayce Thompson started both games. That pretty much guarantees these five will be in the starting nine against Mexico. Matt Koperniak came in early for Fox in Game One and had hits in both games, which has probably locked him down a spot.
That leaves three spots free, which I’d currently to Ivan Johnson , Kristian Robinson and ?
The Unknown
What’s gonna happen with the shortstop role?
Lucius Fox and Ian Lewis Jr both got a game, and both went 0 for. This is the last major piece in the puzzle for Brad Marcelino to solve. Does he go defence first with one of these two, or does he move some other players around position-wise to get in a better bat?
Where’s the speed? This is a team of fast boys, and we didn’t see much of it in these two games. Maybe the coaches were keeping that element close to their chest before the tournament starts but I’d be very much surprised if they weren’t bagging 2+ stolen bases a game… if they get the base runners for it.
Whose going to start when?
This is always kept close to the chest in these types of tournaments, so teams don’t give each other the time to focus on who’ll they will be facing. We’re still none the wiser on any of these plans, but I’d expect that Vance Worley and Ryan Long won’t start either of the first two games, given they both threw an inning in these warm-ups.
Team GB have a field day today, and I (Russell) will try to bleed something out of the stone that is Team GB, but I don’t expect much. We’ll probably just have to wait until the game-day lineup is announced.
Article by Russell Eassom – Bat Flips & Nerds’ roving reporter on the ground in Houston and Miami.
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