11 new players to watch at the World Baseball Classic

One of the best parts about the World Baseball Classic is seeing the great players from around the world who we don't see every day in MLB.

Those could be international stars from leagues like Japan's NPB or Korea's KBO, or even prospects in MLB organizations who just don't have such a big spotlight on them every day during the Minor League season as they do during the WBC.

Plus, since we now have Statcast tracking for the World Baseball Classic, we can see a lot of cool data about those players that we don't get to see normally -- how hard they hit the ball, how far they crush home runs, their pitch velocity and movement and so on.

In the 2023 WBC, for example, we got our first good look at Munetaka Murakami, who slugged a 115.1 mph homer against the U.S. in the championship game that was the hardest-hit homer of the entire tournament.

We'll see new stars emerge on the international stage in just a couple weeks. Here are 11 of the players whose Statcast data we're excited to see in the 2026 WBC.

1) Teruaki Sato, Japan

Sato was an up-and-coming player in 2023, but he didn't play in the World Baseball Classic. Now, the 26-year-old lefty slugger is a breakout star for NPB's Hanshin Tigers, and he's on Japan's roster for WBC '26. Sato hit 40 home runs last season, posted a .924 OPS and won his league's MVP Award -- so we want to see those exit velocity numbers in the WBC. You might even remember him crushing a homer off Blake Snell in an exhibition between Hanshin and the Dodgers before the 2025 season-opening Tokyo Series.

2) Atsuki Taneichi, Japan

The Japanese pitching staff is always one of the most fun to watch at the WBC -- just look at how they dominated everyone with splitters on their 2023 championship run. The 2026 team doesn't have the huge new superstars like Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki on the 2023 squad, but there are still some interesting new arms. One is Taneichi, who's had three straight seasons of 150-plus strikeouts with the Chiba Lotte Marines, Sasaki's old team. The 27-year-old right-hander has some interesting stuff, especially his splitter and slider and a four-seamer that gained a couple of mph after he went to Driveline following 2021 Tommy John surgery.

3) Do Yeong Kim, Korea

Kim is the top hitter on FanGraphs' international prospect big board. The Korean third baseman is just 22 years old and has already emerged as a power-speed star in the KBO League. In his age-20 season in 2024, Kim batted .347 with 38 home runs, 40 stolen bases and 109 RBIs, winning the league MVP Award. He missed a lot of the 2025 season due to multiple hamstring injuries, but he's on Korea's WBC roster and ready to mash.

4) Hyun Min Ahn, Korea

Here's another breakout young slugger from the KBO. Ahn -- who's nicknamed "Muscle Man" because he's built like Mike Trout -- just batted .334 with 22 home runs and a 1.018 OPS in 112 games for the KT Wiz in his age-21 season in 2025. Ahn and Kim give Korea multiple interesting young hitters to watch in the 2026 Classic.

5) Jo-Hsi Hsu, Chinese Taipei

Chinese Taipei has six players who are Top 30 prospects in MLB organizations, the most of any team in the World Baseball Classic. But here's a player to watch who's not from that list. Hsu was one of the best arms in the Chinese Professional Baseball League, flashing an upper-90s fastball and sharp slider at the WBC Qualifiers, and he just signed a deal to pitch in Japan with NPB's Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. Keep an eye on the 25-year-old right-hander at the WBC.

6) Travis Bazzana, Australia

Bazzana, MLB's No. 1 overall Draft pick in 2024, will get the chance to shine on the international stage for Australia. We do have a little Statcast data on the 23-year-old second baseman from the 26 games he played after reaching Triple-A last season, but that's barely anything. We want to see what MLB's No. 20 overall prospect can do against the top competition from around the globe.

7) Druw Jones, Netherlands

The World Baseball Classic couldn't be better timing for Jones, whose dad (and manager in the tournament), Andruw, was just elected to the Hall of Fame. Druw hopefully has a long career ahead of him, too, and maybe the WBC can be a jumping-off point for the 22-year-old D-backs outfield prospect, who was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft.

8) Joseph Contreras, Brazil

Here's another MLB legacy player in WBC '26. Contreras is the son of former White Sox All-Star pitcher José Contreras, and Joseph is a pitcher like his dad. He's also a Top 50 prospect for the 2026 MLB Draft. But the most interesting thing about him playing for Brazil in the World Baseball Classic? He's only 17 years old. Contreras is still in high school, and he might be pitching against some of the best hitters in the World -- especially since Team USA is in Brazil's pool.

9) Elmer Rodríguez, Panama

Rodriguez is one of the Yankees' top pitching prospects, ranked No. 82 in MLB overall. The only Statcast data we have on him is from one start he made at Triple-A last season, where he flashed pitches like a 96 mph four-seam fastball, a 95 mph sinker with 17 inches of arm-side run and a 77 mph curveball with 15 inches of horizontal break. The 22-year-old right-hander also just ranked second in all of the Minor Leagues with 176 strikeouts in just 150 innings in 2025.

10) Andrew Fischer, Italy

Fischer was the Brewers' first-round Draft pick just last year, and he could mash some home runs for Italy in the WBC. The 21-year-old is a big power hitter from the left side, we've just barely gotten to see it yet since Fischer only got to play 19 games in his first season in pro ball. The World Baseball Classic should be a big opportunity to watch what the up-and-coming infield prospect can do.

11) Alexei Ramirez, Cuba

OK, so Ramirez isn't really a "new" player to watch at WBC '26. He's actually the oldest player in the tournament. Ramirez -- yes, the same Alexei Ramirez who retired from the Major Leagues a full decade ago in 2016 -- is coming back to play for Cuba at age 44, and frankly, we're just very curious what type of numbers a 44-year-old long-retired big leaguer can put up. Ramirez played for Cuba in the inaugural Classic in 2006. That was 20 years ago, long before Statcast tracking even existed. Ramirez has been out of the Majors so long, he barely even played in the Statcast era, which began in 2015. But even then, at the tail end of his career, he was elite at making contact.