Australia is sort of a weird country when it comes to baseball. Plenty of people play it, but it’s an afterthought on the national level. They have lots of professional players and even a professional league of their own, but haven’t really produced any full-fledged stars. Internationally, they play well but rarely great, although sometimes they shock the world and do better than anybody was expecting them to. I think it’d be safe to say that baseball in Australia is vaguely like men’s soccer in America, especially when it isn’t a World Cup year. Maybe a bit lower. It exists, there is a league, and there certainly are some good players and a devoted fan-base, but it’s an after-thought unless somebody does something really good.

Anyway, the Australian roster is filled with professionals or former professionals, mostly from the minors and overseas but with a some MLB players here and there.The Australians have a lot of guys who can play anywhere, and as a result, you’ll see some positions where there are no dedicated players of that position.

Keep in mind that this set of projections was made over a long period of time, and while I have tried to keep it up to date, there still may be a stray out-of-date stat or piece of information here and there.

So, after much research, the Australian national team can be found under the jump. The usual rules apply:

• Any player coming off a major injury or who has a history of injuries is unlikely to participate. This is especially true for the pitchers.
• Players that will be on new teams are less likely to participate, but shouldn’t be completely ignored, with the exception of pitchers.
• Teams are made up of 28 players, of which 13 of them must be pitchers and two of them catchers.
• The pitch count rules make relievers extremely important.

Manager: Jon Deeble

Deeble, a Red Sox scout and native Aussie, has been the skipper for Australian baseball for years. No reason to believe anything different will happen this time around.

Catchers: Allan De San Miguel, Matt Kennelly, Joel Naughton

De San Miguel, a good-fielding but little-hitting catcher, is currently in the Orioles organization, and he also was named the Australian Baseball League’s defensive player of the year this past season. Mathew Kennelly is in the Braves organization, currently in AA. Joel Naughton spent a few years in the minors, but now plays down under. Matt’s brother, Josh, is a rookie-leaguer in the Reds’ organization, and could also get a spot.

First Basemen: David Sutherland

Sutherland, who was in the Dodgers’ organization in the 2000s, hit well in the ABL last season.

Second Basemen: James Beresford

Beresford is a middle-infielder/utility player in the Twins organization, currently in AA, where he is hitting .259 as of this writing.

Third Basemen and Shortstops:  There are no devoted 3B and SS on this roster, although there certainly are plenty of players who can play that position.

Utility: Luke Hughes, Justin Huber, Stefan Welch, Tim Kennelly, Brad Harman

Infielder Luke Hughes, formerly of the Twins and now in the Blue Jays’ system (by way of a stop with the Athletics), has played in over 100 games in the majors. Huber is a 1B/OF/DH who now only plays in Australia’s winter league but who spent portions of five years in the big leagues. Welch is in the Pirates organization and plays first and third. Tim Kennelly, the brother of the aforementioned catchers, is in the Philadelphia organization and has played practically everywhere during his career. Harman, who had a cup of coffee in the past with the Phillies, now plays exclusively in Australia, primarily in the middle infield.

Outfielders: Trent Oeltjen, David Kandilas, Tom Brice, Mitch Dening, Elliot Biddle

Oeltjen, now in the Dodgers organization, has had several stints in the majors and it’s likely that, given his .317 hitting this season in AAA, he will again. Kandilas is in the Colorado organization.  Tom Brice is a baseball nomad who Baseball Reference lists as playing in Australia and the Netherlands last season, as well as a member of the 2011 World Cup team. Dening is an outfielder in the Frontier League this season.

Biddle, who was briefly a pitcher in the Twins’ organization, was one of the top home run hitters in the ABL last season.

Starting Pitchers: Travis Blackley, Liam Hendriks, Chris Oxspring, Hayden Beard

Blackley is currently the only active starting pitcher in the majors from Australia (although he is also sometimes a reliever), but he is occasionally joined by Liam Hendriks, who has yo-yo’d between AAA and the Twins this year and probably has a bright future ahead of him if he works out some kinks. Oxspring is a veteran pitcher (who had a cup of coffee in 2005) who now only plays in the Australian League, where he had a 3.03 ERA between starting and relieving in the previous summer. Hayden Beard is a starter at AA San Antonio for the Padres.

Relievers: Josh Spence, Rich Thompson, Shane Lindsay, Brad Thomas, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Warwick Saupold, Andrew Russell, Clayton Tanner, Brendan Wise

Spence, Thompson, Lindsay, Thomas and Rowland-Smith all have MLB experience and remain in professional baseball in North America, with the exception of Thomas, who is now in Taiwan. Spence, in fact, was with the Padres earlier this season.

Saupold is currently in A-Ball for the Tigers, who signed him after he did extremely well in the 2011-2012 Australian Baseball League as a starter. Russell has a 2.17 ERA in relief for Atlanta’s AA and AAA teams. Tanner is in the Giants organization. Finally, Brendan Wise is having a rough year in AAA Rochester for the Twins, with a 5.64 ERA, but has done very well in the past few years in the minors.

Grant Balfour isn’t included because he hasn’t taken part in the past two WBCs and is a free agent this winter. Peter Moylan isn’t included due to injury.

So, what sort of lineup might Australia waltz out? Perhaps something like this:

1. Trent Oeltjen, RF

2. Stefan Welch, 1B

3. Brad Harman, SS

4. Justin Huber, DH

5. Elliot Biddle, CF

6. Luke Hughes, 2B

7. Matt Kennelly, C

8. Dave Kandilas, LF

9.  Tim Kennelly, 3B

SP: Travis Blackley