Following an impressive 5th place finish at the WBSC (World Baseball Softball Confederation) U18 Baseball World Cup, Team Australia has improved on their already historic World Ranking, with the latest WBSC World Rankings Presented by ENEOS seeing Team Australia climb to No. 7 in the world.
Team Australia has already made history in 2017, after rising to an unprecedented No. 8 following the team’s best ever performance at a World Baseball Classic, and this further rankings increase bodes well for upcoming tournaments. 2018 sees our U23 team attempt to defend their 2016 silver medal, while our U15 team will aim for continued improvement at their World Cup.
The Men’s National Team will participate in an annual series of games against the Cuban National Team beginning in late 2018, which serves as preparation for their first appearance at the WBSC’s flagship event, the 2019 Premier12 tournament.
Baseball Australia’s Head of High Performance Glenn Williams says the collective effort has been paramount to the program’s success.
“This continual rise in the ranks is a sign that the program is heading in the right direction, and with continued hard work we have a great chance to continue this trend,” Williams said.
“The World Ranking system takes into account all National teams – from the U12 all the way through to the Senior Men’s team. It’s great to know that the players who competed on the U12 team in Taiwan have contributed to this as well.”
“We have some excellent people within our program contributing to the teams going away and they deserve a lot of the credit for this.”
According to the WBSC, the World Rankings are weighted by a country's performance in WBSC-sanctioned events international tournaments (from U12 to Men’s National Team) over a four-year period.
Baseball Australia CEO Cam Vale sees this groundbreaking improvement as just the beginning.
“Under the leadership of High Performance Manager Glenn Williams, his team of coaches and support staff across all our teams and programs are doing an outstanding job in their preparation and delivery of our National teams,” Vale said.
“The world rankings are a reflection of the depth of senior and junior teams we send to international competition, representing a collective effort of athletes from our Under 12s through to our senior team that competed at this year’s World Baseball Classic”.
“We will continue to strive for more success on the path to the 2020 Olympics”.