Yang Eui-ji, the catcher of the professional baseball team Doosan Bears, has once again earned the honor of receiving the most votes in the All-Star fan voting for the first time in eight years.

The KBO secretariat announced today the "Best 12" roster for the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO All-Star Game, compiled from fan and player votes.

Fan voting was conducted from June 3 to 23 on the KBO website, the official KBO application, and the Shinhan Super SOL application. The All-Stars for both teams, who will grace the stage of stars, were selected by combining fan votes (70%) and player votes (30%).

Yang Eui-ji, a candidate in the catcher category for the Dream All-Stars (SSG Landers, Samsung Lions, KT Wiz, Doosan Bears, Lotte Giants), received 2,605,510 votes—the highest ever in fan voting—easily breaking the previous record of 1,786,837 votes set last year by Kim Seo-hyeon of the Hanwha Eagles.

Having also received the most votes in the 2018 fan vote, Yang became the third catcher in history to lead the fan voting twice or more, following Lee Man-soo (four times: 1984, 1988, 1990, 1991) and Kang Min-ho (twice: 2012, 2021).

Furthermore, selected as an All-Star for the 15th time in his career, Yang tied with Yang Joon-hyuk and Kang Min-ho (both Samsung) for the second-most All-Star selections in history.

First place in this category is Kim Hyun-soo (KT), who has been selected 16 times.

Yang also received 187 votes in the player voting, earning a total score of 50.

95 points, recording the highest score among the Dream All-Stars.

In the Dream All-Star Best 12, the surge of Doosan players was prominent.

Led by Yang, six players—Gwak Been (starting pitcher), Lee Young-ha (closing pitcher), Park Jun-soon (second baseman), Park Chan-ho (shortstop), and Jung Soo-bin (outfielder)—took first place in their respective categories.

From Samsung, Lee Seung-min (middle reliever), Lewin Diaz (first baseman), Koo Ja-wook (outfielder), and Choi Hyoung-woo (designated hitter) were selected.

"Record man" Choi Hyoung-woo was second in the fan vote behind Son Ah-seop (Doosan), but succeeded in a comeback by winning an all-time high of 278 votes in the player vote, enjoying the honor of being selected as an All-Star for the ninth time in his career.

Choi Jeong (SSG) enjoyed the joy of his record-setting 10th selection in the third baseman category, while outfielder Choi Won-jun (KT) placed first in the player vote (253 votes), dramatically securing a Best 12 ticket by edging out Kim Min-seok (Doosan), who was third in the fan vote, by about 5 points in the total score.

In the Nanum All-Stars (LG Twins, Hanwha Eagles, NC Dinos, KIA Tigers, Kiwoom Heroes), KIA players dominated.

They produced five All-Stars: Adam Oller (starting pitcher), Jeong Hae-young (middle reliever), Seong Yeong-tak (closing pitcher), Kim Do-young (third baseman), and Park Jae-hyun (outfielder).

Oller was also second in the fan vote but edged out Song Seung-gi (LG) by placing first in the player vote.

Heo In-seo became the first Hanwha catcher to be selected to the All-Star Best 12 in 36 years, since former manager Yoo Seung-an.

Moon Hyun-bin (outfielder) and Kang Baek-ho (designated hitter) will represent Hanwha in the All-Star Game, while Park Min-woo (second baseman) and Kim Ju-won (shortstop) were selected from NC.

Austin Dean (first baseman), the reliable foreign hitter for the league-leading LG, and Park Hae-min (outfielder), a master of tight defense, also proudly took first place.

In particular, Austin ranked first in both the fan and player votes, recording the highest overall score across all positions (54.

04 points).

Unfortunately, no players from Lotte and Kiwoom were selected in the voting.

The KBO secretariat stated that the burning popularity of the 2026 KBO League this year—such as reaching 6 million spectators in the fewest games in history and selling out 202 games, close to 56% of all matches—was also reflected in the All-Star fan voting, with the total number of votes reaching an all-time high of 4,968,276, an increase of about 41% from last year.

The managers of both teams who will participate in the All-Star Game (Dream All-Stars manager Lee Soong-yong of SSG, Nanum All-Stars manager Youm Kyoung-youb of LG) will select a total of 26 recommended players, 13 from each team, to be announced at a later date.

The All-Star Game will be held on July 11 at Seoul Jamsil Baseball Stadium, which will close at the end of this year.

On the previous day, the Futures (minor) League All-Star Game will take place at the same venue.

(Photo: Yonhap News)