{"id":609965,"date":"2026-03-06T15:33:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T15:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/609965\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T15:33:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T15:33:12","slug":"top-korean-players-the-2026-world-baseball-classic-with-mlb-potential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/609965\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Korean Players The 2026 World Baseball Classic With MLB Potential"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this week, we dug into some of the top talents on Japan\u2019s World Baseball Classic roster<\/a> who have yet to make the jump to MLB. Today, we\u2019re diving into a quartet of talented players from Korea<\/a> and the KBO who show big league potential, should they decide to come to the United States.<\/p>\n

In recent years, we\u2019ve seen more Korean players making the jump to MLB, such as Jung-hoo Lee<\/a>, Ha-seong Kim<\/a> and Hye-seong Kim<\/a>.\u00a0Let\u2019s take a look at who could potentially be next.<\/p>\n

Do Yeong Kim, 3B, KIA Tigers<\/p>\n

Kim has begun the 2026 WBC as Korea\u2019s leadoff hitter, and there\u2019s good logic behind that. He won the 2024 KBO MVP at 20 after putting together a historic season in which he hit .347\/.420\/.647 with 38 home runs, 40 stolen bases, 109 RBIs and a whopping 143 runs. Last year, however, he missed a large chunk of 2025 with multiple hamstring injuries.<\/p>\n

Kim has a nice blend of abilities, including power that could translate to average-or-better home run totals in MLB to go along with developed plate skills and speed. He\u2019s considered an average defender at third base, which is where he\u2019s seen most of his time in the field en route to winning a Korean gold glove equivalent in 2024.<\/p>\n

How KBO production translates to MLB is always a question, but Kim\u2019s early career performance hints at a viable MLB prospect with above-average upside.<\/p>\n

Hyun Min Ahn, OF, KT Wiz<\/p>\n

During the last WBC, Ahn was still in the midst of his Korean military service working as a cook. After a breakout rookie campaign with KT Wiz in 2025 that earned him the league\u2019s rookie of the year award and a gold glove, Ahn is now hitting in the cleanup spot in the Korean lineup in the 2026 WBC.<\/p>\n

Ahn has shown physicality, power projection and all-around skills. In his 2025 rookie campaign, he hit .334\/.448\/.570 with 22 home runs, showing a polished hit tool as he walked more than he struck out during his first full season in KBO.<\/p>\n

Alongside Do Yeong Kim, Ahn is considered one of the top prospects to come out of Korea in recent years.<\/p>\n

Woo-joo Jeong, RHP, Hanwha Eagles<\/p>\n

Jeong is the youngest player on Korea\u2019s roster and one of the five youngest players in this year\u2019s WBC. Last year at 18 years old, he pitched out of Hanwha\u2019s bullpen, making 51 appearances and striking out 82 batters with a 2.85 ERA over 53.2 innings. Jeong is working out of the bullpen for Korea in the WBC, and he struggled in his lone inning of work against Czechia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jeong mixes a four-seam fastball, slider and curveball. His fastball sits 92-93 mph with above-average ride with a wider range of armside break, as it sometimes runs a foot and other times shows more cut. His primary secondary is a low-to-mid-80s short slider with spin rates in the 2,400-2,600 rpm range. Jeong\u2019s curveball is a two-plane breaker in the upper 70s with higher spin rates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hyun Bin Moon, OF, Hanwha Eagles<\/p>\n

Moon broke into Hanwha\u2019s lineup at 19 and saw his production take a giant leap forward in 2025. He had his best season to date, hitting .320\/.370\/.453 with 12 home runs and 17 steals.<\/p>\n

Moon is not in the same tier of prospects as Kim or Ahn, but he is still one of the young talents pushing Korean baseball into the future. With an aggressive approach predicated on putting the ball in play, his plate skills are fringe with good bat-to-ball ability. Moon has been a bench player so far in the WBC, but he could be a primary part of Korea\u2019s lineup in future tournaments.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Earlier this week, we dug into some of the top talents on Japan\u2019s World Baseball Classic roster who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[10264,5,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-609965","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-2026-world-baseball-classic","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116182961705694313","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}