The 2026 World Baseball Classic is now underway with 20 teams participating. The Australian team is not filled with a bunch of household names when it comes to Major League Baseball experience. However, there is one Australian currently playing in the highest level of baseball in the world who is on the Australian squad. That is infielder Curtis Mead of Adelaide.
Mead is the starting third baseman for Team Australia. This past season he shared his time with the Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago White Sox after two full seasons in Tampa Bay in 2023 and 2024. Mead was traded by the Rays to the White Sox with minor league pitchers Duncan Davitt of Des Moines, Iowa and Ben Peoples of Columbia, Tennessee for pitcher Adrian Houser of Tahlequah, Oklahoma on July 31.
In 2025 with the Rays and White Sox, Mead batted .233 with three home runs and 19 runs batted in. During 90 games, 240 at bats and 264 plate appearances, he scored 26 runs and had 56 hits, 10 doubles, one triple, five stolen bases, 15 walks, 77 total bases, one sacrifice fly, an on base percentage of .299, and a slugging percentage of .321. Mead’s sacrifice fly came in a 4-1 Rays win over the San Diego Padres on April 26 and his triple came in a 12-8 Rays win over the Baltimore Orioles on June 18.
Mead also has plenty of experience playing in the Australian Baseball League. He spent four seasons with the Adelaide Bite/Giants from 2017 to 2021. Mead was only 16 years of age when he started playing in the ABL. Mead’s father Tim also played in the ABL for the Adelaide Giants.
