Don’t underestimate Lachlan Wells.
The left handed pitcher may not look like a stereotypical
baseball player, but if you delve a bit deeper into Wells, you’ll see he’s one
of Australia’s brightest young baseball prospects.
Wells is coming off one of the standout seasons from an
Australian in the US Minor Leagues, finishing with six wins from his 12 starts
at the Class-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. Wells’ ERA of 1.77 was by far
the lowest among the four starting pitchers at Cedar Rapids, and considering
Wells was the youngest starting pitcher by nearly two years, the future looks
bright for the Novocastrian.
After spending some time over the Australian summer back in
Sydney checking out the action at the 2017 National Youth Championships, Wells
is currently in the US at Spring Training, but will head to the World Baseball
Classic after a selection that shocked even Wells.
“I couldn’t believe it at first when I got the call,” Wells
said.
“I wasn’t expecting to be on the team, but I’m looking
forward to being in the clubhouse with all the guys.”
Wells will be the youngest member of the Team Australia
squad that will take on the best in the world, but the 19-year-old is expecting
good things as Australia take on Cuba, China and #1 ranked Japan.
“We’re going to have a good tournament,” Wells said.
“I think we might shock a couple of teams, it’s going to be
great to be around the calibre of guys that we have. It’s going to be great to
learn and take it all in.”
Wells and
Team Australia head to Korea later this week for a weeklong camp and a highly
anticipated warm-up game against the #3 ranked Korean team on 28 February.
Australia’s first game of the World Baseball Classic takes place on the 8th
of March at the Tokyo Dome against host nation and world #1 ranked Japan.
Use the
hashtag #NoCompromise to join the conversation about Australia’s World Baseball
Classic tour.