Home > Sports > Baseball

Reliever willing to cede closer role to MLB pitcher at WBC

Published: 22 Jan. 2026, 10:36 Updated: 22 Jan. 2026, 17:28

Korean pitcher Park Yeong-hyun speaks with reporters at Incheon International Airport on Jan. 21, after arriving back from training camp in Saipan. [YONHAP]

Given his experience in closing out international games for Korea and his track record in the KBO, KT Wiz reliever Park Yeong-hyun is a strong candidate to assume the ninth-inning role at the upcoming World Baseball Classic (WBC).

But with a major league reliever on the verge of joining the national team, Park, 22, is more than willing to step aside and offer whatever help the new teammate needs.

Korea will finalize its WBC roster in early February, and the list of candidates to make the team as relievers is full of top-notch closers for their respective KBO clubs. But no one has recorded more saves than Park's 60 over the past two seasons, and he led all pitchers with 35 saves in 2025.

And Korea's relief corps will also receive a huge reinforcement in the form of Riley O'Brien, a half-Korean reliever for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Under eligibility rules for the WBC, a player can represent the country of birth for at least one of his parents, even if he himself wasn't born there. O'Brien, a Seattle native who has a Korean-born mother, recently told St. Louis media that he accepted the invitation from the Korean national team and was working on plans to travel to Japan for the team's four opening-round games.

O'Brien enjoyed his best major league campaign in 2025, with a 2.06 ERA over career highs of 48 innings in 42 games, plus a 3-1 record and six saves.

He struck out 45 batters and walked 22. According to Baseball Savant, O'Brien averaged 98 miles per hour (157.7 kilometers per hour) with his sinker, which he threw over 48 percent of the time, and limited opponents to a .059 batting average with his curveball.

Korean reliever Park Yeong-hyun pitches against Japan during the teams' exhibition baseball game at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, on Nov. 16, 2025. [YONHAP]

"It's going to be a huge boost to our bullpen to have a high-end reliever from the majors," Park told reporters Wednesday night after returning home from a national team training camp in Saipan. "Even if I give up my closer job, I am confident in whatever role I am asked to take on. O'Brien is going to help the team, and I will be ready to help him out as well."

In Saipan, Park said he enjoyed training alongside other KBO closers, such as Kim Taek-yeon of the Doosan Bears and Jo Byeong-hyeon of the SSG Landers. Joining this trio of fireballers in their early 20s was former LG Twins All-Star closer Go Woo-suk, who recently signed a minor league contract with the Detroit Tigers.

"These guys were called up for this camp for a reason. They all have great stuff and a unique set of strengths they can bring to the table," Park said. "And I tried to find things that I could learn from them. They all looked great at this camp, and I tried to match their effort. We really fed off each other."

Park said he asked Go, a dominant closer in the KBO before he moved to the United States in 2024, a ton of questions in Saipan, including Go's pitch selection in different situations and his delivery on his changeup, cutter and slider.

One thing Park couldn't do early on, however, was to lift the same weight as Go in the gym.

"Woo-suk could really go at it in the weight room. I tried to follow whatever he was doing, and my arms were sore for a couple of days," Park said with a smile. "And then my body got used to it, and I was able to stay with him the rest of the way."

Yonhap