[Official] 'Nine foreigners are joining' NC Koo Chang-mo kept his pride as a native starter! KBO Opener Selection Confirmed

*This content was translated by AI.

NC Dinos' Koo Chang-mo (29) is the only Korean player to start the KBO League opener.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) held the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO Media Day at Lotte Hotel World in Songpa-gu, Seoul on the 26th.

The KBO League will enter 144 games on the 28th, starting with the LG Twins-KT Wiz in Jamsil, Seoul, the Samsung Lions-Lotte Giants in Daegu, the SSG Landers-KIA Tigers in Incheon, the Hanwha Eagles-Kiwoom Heroes in Daejeon, and the NC Dinos-Doosan Bears in Changwon.

While each club's head coach announced the selection of the opening game, Koo Chang-mo kept the pride of the native starter. Koo Chang-mo, who debuted in the first division in 2016, returned last season after serving in the Sangmu. Despite frequent injuries, he showed solid performance with a 2.51 ERA in four games with one win and no loss. In this exhibition game, he also recorded a 0.00 ERA with one win and no loss in two games.

Chris Flexen (32), who returned to the KBO League for the first time in six years, will face off. Flexen, who first played in the KBO as a member of Doosan in 2020, played 8-4 with a 3.01 ERA and 132 strikeouts in 116 ⅔ innings in 21 games. After that, he returned to the Major League, but he wore Doosan's uniform again ahead of this season. In the exhibition game, he also recorded a 0.73 ERA in three games and 21 strikeouts in 12 ⅓ innings, raising expectations.

Other than that, foreign pitchers remained strong. Coincidentally, the match came out as a showdown between KBO experienced pitchers and first-timers. LG Yoni Chirinos and KT's new foreigner Matt Sauer will face off at Jamsil Beol.

Chirinos is a second-year foreigner who led LG to the championship as soon as he came here last year. He recorded 13 wins, 6 losses and a 3.31 ERA in 30 games last year. In this year's exhibition game, he was not good with a 7.56 ERA in two games. However, he performed poorly in exhibition games last year, but he showed impressive performance in the regular season.

Sauer, who drew attention from the Los Angeles Dodgers, is a fastball foreigner who throws a fastball up to 155km/h. In the exhibition game, he was not good with one win and one loss with a 6.30 ERA in two games.

Hanwha, which headed to the Korean Series last year as a strong foreign duo, put forward Wilkel Hernandez. Hernandez recorded a 4.50 ERA and 10 strikeouts in 10 innings in two exhibition games as attractive outsiders with sinkers and changeups. It is Raul Alcantara, the oldest outside the KBO, who greets Hernandez.

Alcantara, who joined KT in 2019 and had a relationship with Korea, moved to Doosan and became the most winning pitcher. After that, he headed to the Japanese Professional Baseball (NPB) and returned to Doosan again, making his KBO re-debut in Kiwoom last year.

In the moon ball game, KBO veterans and newcomers will also face off. Against Ariel Furado (30, Samsung), who is in his fourth year in the KBO, Elvin Rodriguez (28), a first-year KBO player, will make his first appearance as a member of Lotte. Furado formed a relationship with the KBO League through a Kiwoom in 2023 and moved to Samsung last year.

Although Furado moved from a pitcher-friendly stadium to a batter-friendly stadium, he showed his best performance with 15 wins, 8 losses and an ERA of 2.60 in 30 games last year. Earlier this year, he was selected for the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) Panama national team.

Rodriguez is one of the most anticipated foreign starters this season. In the exhibition game, he marked a 5.00 ERA with one win and no loss in two games, but he had already proved his pitching from the practice game.

In the face-off between the five-way candidates, familiar faces meet. In KIA, James Nail, who led the Korean Series championship, will play. Nail, who has won 20 games over the past two years, was certified for her contribution by receiving $1.8 million, the highest salary for foreigners this season.

Mitch White, a Korean-American, greets such nails with a home. White came to SSG last year and led the semifinals with 11 wins, 4 losses and a 2.87 ERA in 24 games.

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*This content was translated by AI.