Why Trayce Thompson is playing for Great Britain in the 2023 World Baseball Classic

Warriors guard Klay Thompson has won gold medals representing the United States in international basketball tournaments three times. His brother, Dodgers outfielder Trayce Thompson, will represent a different nation at this year’s World Baseball Classic.

Trayce Thompson is perhaps the biggest name for Britain making its first WBC appearance after sweeping through pre-tournament qualifiers last year.

Thompson, like many of the players competing at this year’s WBC, has never played the tournament before, in large part due to the gap between the tournaments (it is set to be played every four years) and the qualification schedule.

Great Britain did not qualify for the 2017 tournament and qualification for the 2021 event has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualifying for the rescheduled 2023 event occurred in September 2022 during the MLB regular season. Thompson was in the majors with the Dodgers when Britain played its games.

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That’s why Thompson will represent Great Britain at the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

Why Trayce Thompson plays for Great Britain in the WBC

Thompson was born in Los Angeles and attended Santa Margarita Catholic High in Rancho Santa Margarita, California. So why is he representing Britain?

Thompson is eligible because his father, former NBA star Mychal Thompson, was born in the Bahamas. The Bahamas has had an independent government since 1973 but is considered a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The island nation has its own prime minister, considered King Charles III. however, as its monarch and head of state. He is represented by a Governor General. Since the Bahamas are still King Charles III. as head of state, their athletes can compete for Great Britain.

And according to Tribune242, many of their players fly the British flag in international competitions because the international baseball ranking of 80 prevents the Bahamas from being one of the Pan American Baseball Confederation (COPABE) teams.

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Statistics by Trayce Thompson

Thompson, who turns 32 on March 15, made his major debut in 2015. He has appeared in 297 MLB games, with .221/.303/.434 slashes, 39 home runs and 15 stolen bases.

Last year, Thompson had one of his best seasons in the majors. In 74 games with the Dodgers, he hit .268/.364/.537 slashes on 13 homers. He played in six games for the Padres earlier in the season and briefly played in the Tigers’ organization after being cut by San Diego. LA acquired him for cash in June.

Thompson was selected by the White Sox in the second round of the 2009 MLB Draft and made his debut with Chicago on August 4, 2015. He was traded to the Dodgers in December 2015 and spent two seasons with Los Angeles. From there he spent time with the Athletics, White Sox again, Cubs, Padres and now the Dodgers again. He is expected to be a regular for LA in 2023.

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Other notable players on the Great Britain World Baseball Classic roster

Thompson is one of the most notable names on the UK squad, but there are several other players with MLB connections.

Former Big Leaguers Vance Worley and Darnell Sweeney are also on the team. Infielder Lucius Fox, a native of the Bahamas, made his MLB debut with the Nationals last year. Harry Ford, the Mariners’ top pick, is eligible because both parents were born in the UK.

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Great Britain World Baseball Classic schedule

Date	Opponent	time (ET)	television (USA)
March 11	USA	21 clock	Fox
March 12th	Canada	3 pm	FS1
March 13th	Colombia	3 pm	FS2
the 14th of March	Mexico	22 O `clock	FS1