The United States might have the strongest lineup at the World Baseball Classic, and Japan might be the defending champions, but South Korea definitely has the best bat flips in the business.
The KBO, the premier baseball league in South Korea, is renowned for its flamboyant and stylish home run celebrations, and there might be many to come in the next week, as maybe the strongest Korean team in almost two decades is entering the WBC with momentum behind them.
In 2009, South Korea reached the finals of the young tournament and gave Japan everything they could handle. But Samurai Japan legend Ichiro came up with the huge hit in extra innings to take the trophy home over the Koreans.
Although South Korea has struggled to reach that height again, a pair of superstar youngsters might pave the way for a return to the knockout rounds in 2026.
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Kim Do-yeong won the KBO MVP at the age of 20 when he hit 38 home runs along with 40 stolen bases. Although he was injured for the majority of 2025, he’s healthy and has two home runs in back-to-back WBC exhibition games.
The other 22-year-old prodigy, Ahn Hyun-min, is the reigning KBO Rookie of the Year and is built like a tank and crushed a ball in South Korea’s 8-5 victory over the NPB’s Orix Buffaloes on Tuesday.
Ahn hit 22 homers and had an OPS of 1.018 last season for the KT Wiz of the KBO.
Ahn and Kim are seen as the future of South Korean baseball, and both are hitting at the center of the team’s WBC lineup.
With MLB power like that and a KBO bat flip to boot, Ahn has the personality to become your new favorite baseball player by the time the global tournament is done.