Former Tennessee baseball star Liam Spence will represent his home country in this spring’s World Baseball Classic, making Australia’s official roster.
The World Baseball Classic runs from March 7 to March 21 this spring. The 2023 tournament will be fifth time the event has been held. Baseball’s version of soccer’s World Cup, the WBC pegs 20 countries and its best baseball players against one another in a tournament approximately every four years.
The last WBC was in 2017, which the United States won, but has been delayed years later due to COVID-19. Spence spent the majority of his 2022 with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans— the Chicago Cubs’ Low A team — where he hit .208 with three home runs and 21 RBIs.
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Spence was a two-year star for Tennessee, hitting .346. in the shortened COVID-19 2020 season before a breakout 2021 campaign. The junior college transfer was one of the SEC’s best players as the Vols returned to the College World Series 2021.
Hitting leadoff, Spence hit .336 with a SEC best .472 on-base percentage while totaling 18 extra-base hits and 36 RBIs. On top of his offensive production, Spence was a steady defensive shortstop for Tony Vitello’s team.
The Chicago Cubs selected Spence in the fifth round of the 2021 MLB Draft. Spence has spent the entirety of his short professional baseball career in the Cubs’ farm system.
