Nat'l baseball team manager reveals half-Korean star Edman turned down WBC chance in September
Tommy Edman of the Los Angeles Dodgers, right, hits a sacrifice fly against the Toronto Blue Jays during Game 7 of the World Series at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Nov. 1. Reuters-Yonhap
Korean national baseball team manager Ryu Ji-hyun revealed Wednesday half-Korean star Tommy Edman had turned down an opportunity to represent the country of his mother's birth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) two months ago.
With the national team also gauging interest among other U.S.-born Major League Baseball (MLB) players of Korean descent, Ryu said he expects more clarity on that front in January, two months before the tournament.
Edman, utility player for the Los Angeles Dodgers, will have right ankle surgery next week, general manager Brandon Gomes told reporters at the MLB GM Meetings in Las Vegas on Tuesday (local time).
Edman, born to a Korean mother and an American father, played for Korea at the previous WBC in 2023, becoming the first player of mixed heritage to compete for the national baseball team here. Korea failed to make it out of the preliminary round, however, and Edman batted just 2-for-11.
Although Gomes said Edman, the 2021 National League Gold Glove winner at second base, could be ready for spring training in February, the player had told Ryu in September that he wouldn't be able to play at the upcoming WBC in March.
"I met Edman in September, and he told me he was going to have ankle surgery after the season. He didn't want that information out in the media, and so I had kept quiet on that until now," Ryu told reporters at Gimpo International Airport in Seoul before traveling to Tokyo for a pair of pre-WBC tuneup games against Japan. "He said he really wanted to redeem himself this time after not playing as well as he'd hoped in 2023, but said he won't be able to play because of his ankle. He said he would love to play when he gets another opportunity."
Ryu and his staff have also spoken with other players of mixed heritage, with Jahmai Jones of the Detroit Tigers being a strong candidate.
Jones, 28, also has a Korean mother. The right-handed hitting outfielder is fresh off his best MLB season, with a .287/.387/.550 line in 72 games. On a Korean team heavy with left-handed hitters, Jones can offer some punch on the right side of the plate.
Ryu said earlier this month that Jones had expressed a strong desire to play for Korea when the two met in September, though the manager insisted it will be ultimately up to the Tigers whether Jones will be available.
"We're doing all we can to bring good players over here, but it's difficult to say with any certainty at this point which players will join us," Ryu said. "We will submit our provisional roster in December and then MLB teams will be notified of our picks. And we should have better ideas by January."