Ryu Hyun-jin (Hanwha Eagles) leads the WBC roster that was announced.
MLB Network on the 6th (Korea time) revealed the final rosters for 20 countries participating in the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC). The 30-player roster for the Korean national team led by manager Ryu Ji-hyun was also announced. Manager Ryu Ji-hyun will hold a press conference at 10 a.m. on the 6th at the Korea Process Center regarding the WBC roster.
Korea, seeking to wipe away the humiliation of first-round elimination in three consecutive tournaments, agonized over selecting the final roster. With Kim Ha-seong (Atlanta Braves) and Song Seong-mun (San Diego Padres) sidelined due to ruptured finger tendons and internal oblique injuries respectively, assembling the best possible squad became difficult. But replacements were identified in various spots and added to the team.
Most of the players who joined last year's K-BASEBALL SERIES exhibition games against the Czech Republic and Japan and the January Saipan first camp roster made the final roster.
The pitching staff includes Ryu Hyun-jin, Jeong Woo-joo (both Hanwha), Kwak Bin (Doosan), Jo Byung-hyun, No Kyung-eun (both SSG), Ko Young-pyo, So Hyeong-jun, Park Young-hyun (all KT), Won Tae-in (Samsung), Son Ju-yeong, Song Seung-gi (LG), Ko Woo-seok (Detroit), Kim Young-kyu (NC), Riley O'Brien (St. Louis), Dane Dunning (Seattle) — a total of 15 players were selected.
Position players include catchers Park Dong-won (LG) and Choi Jae-hun (Hanwha); infielders Kim Hye-seong (LA Dodgers), Kim Do-young (KIA), Kim Joo-won (NC), Moon Bo-gyeong, Shin Min-jae (both LG), Roh Si-hwan (Hanwha), Shea Whitcomb (Houston); outfielders Lee Jung-hoo (San Francisco), An Hyun-min (KT), Gu Ja-uk (Samsung), Moon Hyun-bin (Hanwha), Park Hae-min (LG), Jermy Jones (Detroit) — a total of 15 players joined.
Korean big leaguers including Lee Jung-hoo and Kim Hye-seong participated as planned. Moon Dong-ju was excluded from this roster after shoulder pain was discovered.
A total of four Korean-descended players joined this tournament. In the 2023 tournament Tommy Edman (LA Dodgers) opened the door as the first Korean-descended mixed-heritage player, and this time four players joined regardless of position.
First, pitchers Riley O'Brien (St. Louis) and Dane Dunning (Seattle), infielder Shea Whitcomb (Houston), and utility player Jermy Jones (Detroit), who alternates between infield and outfield, will wear the Taegeuk mark and compete in the WBC.
Among the Korean-descended players the oldest is Dane Dunning. He has plenty of big-league seasoning. He has a career total of 136 games (102 starts), 28 wins, 32 losses and a 4.44 earned run average. Recently his big-league career has been interrupted by a shoulder injury, but he emphasized his Korean descent by getting a Hangeul tattoo on his left arm that reads "same blood." He did not participate in the 2023 tournament but will participate this time.
Riley O'Brien, like Tommy "Hyunsu" Edman, has the middle name "Jun-young." Last year he was St. Louis's closer with 42 games, 48 innings, 3 wins, 1 loss, 6 saves, a 2.06 earned run average, 45 strikeouts, 22 walks and a 1.15 WHIP, and after persistent persuasion from the national team he decided to join.
Jermy Jones was the most proactive player about joining the national team. Since his 2020 debut he has played 141 games with a .243 batting average (255 at-bats, 106 hits), 8 home runs, 34 RBIs and an OPS of .741. In particular, last year in Detroit as a platoon option he showed power with a .287 batting average (129 at-bats, 37 hits), 7 home runs, 23 RBIs and an OPS of .937 across 72 games.
Whitcomb produced just a .178 batting average with 1 home run and 6 RBIs in 40 big-league games across 2024–2025. In Triple-A in the minors he hit 20 or more home runs for three consecutive years and was the Triple-A home run king in 2023 with 35 home runs, making him a big-power infielder.
With Kim Ha-seong and Song Seong-mun sidelined by injury and Tommy Edman, who joined the previous tournament, not participating, the infield depth thinned, and these players are expected to help reinforce it.
The national team, which began WBC preparations with the first camp in U.S. territory Saipan in January, will move to Okinawa, Japan, in mid-February for final preparations including practice games. The team will move to Osaka, Japan, where the official pre-tournament exhibition game will be held on Feb. 28, hold an official practice on March 1, and then play two exhibition games against the Orix Buffaloes and the Hanshin Tigers at Kyocera Dome Osaka on March 2–3.
After that they will move to the final battleground, Tokyo Dome in Japan, and play in the tournament starting March 5. Korea is in Pool C and will play Japan, Taiwan, Australia and the Czech Republic. Korea's first game on the 5th is against the Czech Republic. Korea must beat at least one of Japan or Taiwan to get on the plane to Miami, U.S., where the quarterfinals will be held.
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