'Noh Si-hwan, Moon Bo-kyung, Kwak Bin, and Yoon Dong-hee included' Ryu Ji-hyun Ho, 2026 AG Final Roster of 24 Confirmed [Gwanghwamun On-site]

*This content was translated by AI.

The roster for the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games baseball national team, led by head coach Ryu Ji-hyun (55), has been finalized.

Cha Myung-ju (53), a member of the KBSA Performance Improvement Committee, and Jo Gye-hyun (62), manager of the KBO Jeon Ryeok-gang-hwa (Chairman), Ryu Ji-hyeon (CEO) team, held a press conference on the 11th at the Korea Press Center located in Seoul's Jung-gu district and announced the final roster for the national team.

The Lee Beon (CEO) team decided to maintain its own selection criteria, similar to the previous tournament: "players under 25 years of age or in their fourth year or less of professional debut." This applies to all players born in 2001 or later, regardless of their birthday.

Regarding the basic selection principle, Jo Gye-hyeon (Chairman) explained: "We selected players under 25 years of age as the primary criterion. The wildcards were set for players under 29 years of age. Since the KBO League will proceed without interruption, we distributed club quotas, including wildcards, to a minimum of one and a maximum of three players per team."

The most notable names are wildcards Noh Si-hwan (26, Hanwha Eagles), Moon Bo-kyung (26, LG Twins), and Kwak Bin (27, Doosan Bears). As key figures in the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games gold medal victory and members of the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) squad that advanced to the second round (quarterfinals) for the first time in 17 years, they will lead the younger players in pursuit of another gold medal.

Head coach Ryu Ji-hyun explained the reasons for selecting Noh Si-hwan and Moon Bo-kyung: "There were no clear candidates who could reliably handle first and third base. Additionally, international tournaments are full of variables. In that regard, we selected these two players while considering first base, third base, and the designated hitter position."

The inclusion of injured players So Hyoung-jun (25, KT Wiz), Yoon Dong-hee (23, Lotte Giants), and Park Jun-soon (20, Doosan Bears) also drew attention. Jo Gye-hyeon (Chairman) emphasized: "Due to regulations regarding the roster of players participating in international tournaments, we had to make an early decision three months in advance. Therefore, we included players with relatively minor injuries. Based on the selection criteria, we determined that these players were the most competitive and selected them accordingly."

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*This content was translated by AI.