GLENDALE, Ariz. — Chicago White Sox infielder Curtis Mead collected the first hit of the World Baseball Classic with a first-inning single March 5 for Team Australia against Chinese Taipei at the Tokyo Dome.
Mead hit a three-run home run the next day against Czechia.
“It was special,” Mead said Wednesday at Camelback Ranch. “The cool thing about those games is if the team wins, that’s all that really matters.”
The third baseman/first baseman returned to Sox camp Wednesday after Australia just missed advancing in the WBC. Australia went 2-2 in pool play but came up short in the tiebreaker.
“It was super special to have a pretty successful tournament by our standards,” Mead said. “It’s disappointing to come up a little bit short, but it was definitely a memorable experience.”
Mead went 5-for-14 (.357) with one home run and three RBIs in four games for Australia. Sox manager Will Venable said it was an extension of what the team saw before Mead left for Tokyo.
“He’s been great,” Venable said Wednesday. “Watching Curtis last year, you watch him in (batting practice) and you know the power that’s in there. He just didn’t really get to it in games last year. Coming into this year, hoping that you see some of the pop come out. And it has.
“It came out here before he left, it came out in the WBC. He’s a great guy in the clubhouse, a great guy for us on the field. Really excited to see him put some charges into balls.”
It was Mead’s first time participating in the event. He couldn’t pick just one favorite moment.
“Probably the two that come to mind are Game 1 against Taipei, beating them,” Mead said. “Going into that game, no one really gave us a whole lot of credit. It kind of set us up for the tournament, which was nice.
“And the second was probably playing Japan. That was cool to be running with them through six or seven innings. It was awesome. The crowd was electric.”
As for the three-run home run, which came in the third inning and gave Australia a 3-1 lead, Mead said, “The biggest part of it was that it felt like a big moment in the game.”
He continued: “We had just beaten Taiwan and kind of felt like we should beat Czech pretty comfortably. For them to score first and me to come up in a big spot where one swing can kind of take the momentum back, it was super special to be able to share that with the fans and with my teammates.”
Mead described the atmosphere at the Tokyo Dome as “electric.”
“The crowd there and the noise was probably as loud as I’ve experienced,” he said. “The facilities there are awesome.”
He also appreciated the fan support.
“We had about two sections full,” Mead said. “It was interesting. The Japan game, every time we would get out of a jam or have a couple of hits, the two sections above our dugout were going crazy and the rest of the stadium was pretty quiet. And when they took the lead, in the sixth or seventh, everyone was standing but those two sections. It was funny.”
Mead found the WBC beneficial in multiple ways.
“It definitely gave me some confidence, not only in my performance but in my body,” Mead said. “I’ve already played five nine-inning games. I feel good about how I’m feeling and excited about the rest of camp and beginning the season.”
Mead was 4-for-13 (.308) with one home run and three RBIs in four Cactus League games with the Sox before joining Team Australia.
He hit .240 with eight doubles and 11 RBIs in 41 games with the Sox in 2025 after being acquired in a July trade with the Tampa Bay Rays. He is in the mix for a roster spot.
Mead has the mindset of “put my best forward and see what happens.”
“It’s getting back to going about my business and taking care of the day-to-day stuff,” he said.
