Shin Min-jae, who is cheerful ahead of the confrontation with 'LG colleague' Wells, said, "If I hit one today, I'll make fun of you when I go back to Korea.""

*This content was translated by AI.

Infielder Shin Min-jae (LG Twins), who was listed in the starting lineup against Australia with a faint hope of advancing to the quarterfinals, made a pleasant declaration of war ahead of the "rude confrontation" with his teammate and left-hander Lachlan Wells (29), who is Australia's starting pitcher.

Shin Min-jae met with reporters ahead of the final Group C match against Australia in the first round of the 2026 WBC at Tokyo Dome in Japan on the 9th and expressed his feelings and determination to start.On the previous day (8th), Kim Hye-sung's fingers were a little uncomfortable during the 10th inning steal against Taiwan, so Shin Min-jae took the opportunity to start as the ninth batter and second baseman.

South Korea, which is on the verge of elimination with one win and two losses due to losing the match against Taiwan on the 8th, is in a situation where it has to win Australia by more than five points in this match with conditions of two runs or less. The rest of the cases are South Korea's failure to advance to the quarterfinals.

The biggest interest is by far the showdown between Australian starter Wells and Shin Min-jae. The two players are teammates who share the same rice with the LG Twins in the 2026 season. However, Shin Min-jae confessed that he had never experienced Wells' ball in person.

Shin Min-jae said, "In the LG spring camp, I didn't see Wells throw the ball during live batting at the plate. I think I'll see Wells' ball for the first time in the stadium today. When Wells played for Kiwoom, he said, "I couldn't face off."

When asked if he asked his former teammates for advice about Wells, who played for the Kiwoom Heroes last season, he answered with a unique grave expression, "Isn't there Kiwoom players in the national team now?"

Despite the sudden news of his start, Shin Min-jae remained calm. "I found out that I was going out to the starting today ahead of the game. I don't feel particularly nervous or anything else. It's the same as usual. The atmosphere of the team is the same," he said calmly.

Still, he did not hide his greed in the match against his colleague Wells. Shin Min-jae smiled and said, "If I hit one today (against Wells), I'll go back to Korea and make fun of it a lot." He made it clear that it is a match that must be won as a national team member before he is a teammate. They are well aware of the goal of minimizing runs and winning by more than five points.

Lastly, Shin Min-jae said, "Rather than being greedy to do better, I will play calmly as I prepared for practice," despite pointing out that "defense is a really important game."

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*This content was translated by AI.