Ryu Ji-hyun’s final starting lineup for the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) has been announced.
The South Korean national baseball team, led by head coach Ryu Ji-hyun, will play an exhibition game against the Orix Buffaloes of the Japanese Professional Baseball (NPB) at Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan on the 3rd.
This match is an official warm-up match organized by the WBC Secretariat. Ryu Ji-hyun, who drew 3-3 with the Hanshin Tigers in the warm-up match the previous day (2nd), will start the tournament schedule after playing the final mock test against Orix on the same day.
사진 확대 The World Baseball Classic warm-up match between the Korean national team and the Hanshin Tigers of the Japanese professional baseball team was held at Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan on the 2nd. South Korean Ahn Hyun-min is delighted after hitting an RBI single in the top of the first inning with two outs and runners on the first and third bases. Photo = Yonhap News 
사진 확대 Korean baseball team Germai Jones and Shay Witcom, who are set to participate in the World Baseball Classic (WBC), are training at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan on the 1st. Photo = Yonhap News
Orix is by no means an easy match. On the 2nd, he also beat ‘defending champion’ Japan, which belongs to Group C of this tournament, 4-3 along with South Korea. Ryu Ji-hyun wants to do the final inspection before the competition through the Orix match.
With the start of the game approaching, South Korea’s Kim Do-young (KIA Tigers, designated hitter)-It unveiled the starting lineup consisting of Germay Jones (Detroit Tigers, left fielder) – Lee Jung-hoo (San Francisco Giants, center fielder), Ahn Hyun-min (KT Wiz, right fielder), Moon Bo-kyung (LG Twins, first baseman), Shay Witcom (Houston Astros, third baseman), Kim Hye-sung (LA Dodgers, second baseman), Park Dong-won (LG, catcher), and Kim Joo-won (NC Dinos, shortstop).
It is notable that Witcom, who was placed in the fourth batting order in Hanshinjeon, is located in the sixth batter. Instead, Ahn Hyun-min was listed as the fourth batter. Kim Joo-won, who started the warm-up match against Hanshin on the bench, will also start as the ninth batter and shortstop. Kim Do-young will start the game as a designated hitter instead of the third baseman.
Korean-American Dane Dunning (Seattle Mariners), born to an American father and a Korean mother, will be the starting pitcher. Called by the Washington Nationals as the 29th overall first round in the 2016 draft, he is a right-hander who has since gone through the Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers and Atlanta Braves. He made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut in 2020, and recorded 28 wins, 32 losses and two holds with a 4.35 ERA in 124 big league games (572.2 innings).
사진 확대 Dane Dunning of the Korean national baseball team, who is set to participate in the World Baseball Classic (WBC), is training at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan on the 1st. Photo = Yonhap News
[Lee Hanjoo, MK Sports Reporter]