Great Britain World Baseball Classic roster: Trayce Thompson, Lucius Fox headline 2023 WBC team

Great Britain has advanced to the World Baseball Classic for the first time in the nation's history, and it has an exciting roster that should be entertaining to watch. 

Team GB is loaded with speed. It has speedsters like Lucius Fox, Anfernee Seymour, Darnell Sweeney, Chavez Young and D'Shawn Knowles who have been threats on the basepaths during their professional baseball careers. Even the team's catcher, Harry Ford, was a base-stealing threat in the minors in his first full season.

The team also features a seasoned MLB veteran in the lineup in Trayce Thompson, who has shown off some pop and could give Great Britain a source of middle-of-the-order power, and a group of pitchers that have various amounts of MLB and MiLB experience to make this a well-rounded club.

MORE: 2023 World Baseball Classic: 10 pitcher-hitter matchups we can't wait to see

Here's all you need to know about Great Britain's World Baseball Classic roster.

Great Britain World Baseball Classic 2023 roster

Great Britain might not be loaded with star names, but there are several players with whom MLB fans will be familiar, including a former Rookie of the Year finalist, one current top prospect and several former top prospects in the sport.

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Great Britain players to watch in World Baseball Classic

Team GB might not be loaded with star MLB talents, but there are several notable names on the roster.

Trayce Thompson, who hit .256/.353/.507 with 13 home runs and four steals in 2022 with the Padres and Dodgers, is the biggest name on the team. He should provide the lineup with some power, having launched more than 20 home runs in four different minor league seasons.

Harry Ford is one of the biggest prospects in baseball, ranking fourth on MLB Pipeline's top catchers prospects list. The Mariners' first pick in the 2021 MLB Draft slashed .274/.425/.439 with 11 home runs and stole 23 bases in his first full season of action in 2022.

MORE: World Baseball Classic 2023 schedule

The rest of the roster features plenty of speed even beyond its swift catcher. Angels international signee D'Shawn Knowles was once a highly ranked prospect in the Los Angeles system, but saw his stock dip after some struggles in 2021. The 22-year-old Bahaman outfielder had an improved 2022 between High-A and Class-A, combining to swipe 22 bases and post a .262/.347/.334 slash line. He'll also be joined by Darnell Sweeney in the outfield, who stole 48 bases back in 2013 in the Dodgers' system.

Another speedster on the roster will be Lucius Fox, who has bounced around in his career, having made stops with the Giants, Rays, Royals and now the Nationals. Back in 2019, the last season in which he tallied more than 63 games, he racked up 39 stolen bases. 

Vance Worley is one of the most recognizable names on the pitching staff, having accumulated 667 MLB innings in his career from 2010 to 2017. He finished third in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2011 as he posted a 3.01 ERA in 131.2 innings of work. Ian Gibaut became a regular reliever with the Reds in 2022, pitching to a 4.67 ERA in 33 appearances with the club. He had 48 strikeouts and 18 walks in 34.2 innings of work.

Who is coaching Great Britain in the World Baseball Classic?

Drew Spencer will be the manager of Team GB. The coaching staff will be comprised of Brad Marcelino (bench coach), Antoan Richardson (bench coach), Jonathon Cramman (associate hitting coach), Zach Graefser (pitching coach), Albert Cartwright (first base coach), TS Reed (third base coach) and Conor Brooks (bullpen coach).

Spencer has been in Great Britain's coaching ranks for some time, having been the team's under-23 head coach and guiding the team to a fifth-place finish in the European Championship in 2019. He played baseball at Dartmouth during the 1990s, including earning first-team All-Ivy League honors in 1994 and 1996.

MORE: MLB team-by-team WBC breakdown

Great Britain World Baseball Classic history

Great Britain received its first invitation to the World Baseball Classic in 2013 after a solid 2009 showing in the World Cup bumped the team up in the International Baseball Federation world rankings. 

The 2013 World Baseball Classic qualification didn't exactly go well. Great Britain had three games, and had mixed results. It lost 11-1 to Canada in the preliminaries of the second qualifier before beating Czech Republic 12-5 in the lower round. In the lower final, however, Germany thumped Great Britain 16-1 to advance to the qualifier final.

Great Britain had a much better showing in 2017. The team lost to Israel 5-2 in the preliminaries but advanced out of the lower bracket, beating Pakistan 14-0 and Brazil 4-3. However, Israel got past Great Britain again, beating them 9-1 in the qualifier final.

This year, Great Britain reached the World Baseball Classic for the first time when it swept through the qualifying round, beating France 14-4, Germany 8-1 and Spain 10-0.

The debutants are ready to bring it 🇬🇧#WorldBaseballClassic #MLBEurope | @GB_Baseball | @WBCBaseball pic.twitter.com/objwlf9uKm

— MLB Europe (@MLBEurope) February 17, 2023

Great Britain World Baseball Classic 2023 schedule

Great Britain will play in Pool C alongside Canada, Colombia, Mexico and the United States. It will play its first game against the USA at 10 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 11, or 3 a.m. GMT on Sunday, March 12.

The last game of Great Britain's World Baseball Classic pool stage will be on March 14 in the U.S. and early morning March 15 UK time. Team GB plays Mexico at 10 p.m. ET and 2 a.m. GMT.

Here's a look at Great Britain's schedule in the World Baseball Classic.