St. Louis Cardinals shortstop JJ Wetherholt warms up between innings of a spring training baseball game against the Washington Nationals on March 1, 2025 in Jupiter, Flordia. [AP/YONHAP]

St. Louis Cardinals shortstop JJ Wetherholt warms up between innings of a spring training baseball game against the Washington Nationals on March 1, 2025 in Jupiter, Flordia. [AP/YONHAP]

 
JJ Wetherholt, a highly touted prospect for the St. Louis Cardinals, once dreamed of playing for Korea, the country of his grandmother’s birth, at this year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC).
 
But then he found out, in his own words, he is “not Korean enough” to be eligible for the tournament.
 
 
“Unfortunately, I am not Korean enough. You need a direct parent to be a citizen,” Wetherholt told reporters in St. Louis on Sunday. “And my grandma is the one who’s a citizen. It was a dream of mine, and my grandma’s getting old, so I really wanted to play for them just because I think it would really mean a lot to her. But unfortunately, [I] won’t be able to do it.”
  
The WBC allows players to represent a country if at least one parent is a citizen of that nation or was born there. For instance, Korea had the services of Gold Glove-winning infielder Tommy Edman for the 2023 WBC, with Edman’s mother being Korean. For this year’s tournament, Cardinals pitcher Riley O’Brien, who has a Korean mother, has committed to playing for the Korean national team.
 
“I told my dad, technically, I believe he’s still potentially eligible so he’ll have to do some things on that side to see if he can even gain [Korean] citizenship,” Wetherholt said. “I’m like, ‘Pops, might need you here.'”
 
Wetherholt, 23, was a first-round choice by the Cardinals in the 2024 draft. He reached Triple-A last year, and batted a robust .314/.416/.562 with 10 home runs, 25 RBIs and nine steals in just 47 games for the Memphis Redbirds.
 
Wetherholt is primarily a shortstop but has also played second base and third base in Triple-A.
 
He could certainly have bolstered Korea’s infield, which will be without two injured stars in Kim Ha-seong of the Atlanta Braves and Song Sung-mun of the San Diego Padres.

Yonhap