Mark DeRosa knew if Team USA could get Aaron Judge in the fold for the 2026 World Baseball Classic, other American position players would come.
But for DeRosa’s “Dream Team” to fall into place, Judge would first have to agree to play.
The American manager tried and failed to lure the Yankees superstar outfielder for the 2023 international event, one in which the U.S. fell in a heartbreaking championship game to Japan. In the middle of his long free agency process that saw him end up back in The Bronx and get named captain, Judge decided not to participate.
This time, though, the recruitment worked out. And Judge became Captain America to boot.
Back as skipper for Team USA, DeRosa opened up on “The Show with Joel Sherman & Jon Heyman” on Tuesday about his team-building process last spring. He had received some intel from legendary Yankees lefty Andy Pettitte: Judge wanted in if the manager wanted him.
So the longtime MLB utility player started his recruiting in earnest — one hour after getting the info from Pettitte.
“I just said, ‘Hey Aaron, I’m not going to bug you throughout the year. … I talked to Andy Pettitte, I’d love for you to be obviously the captain of Team USA and kind of start with you and filter everything around you as the pillar of this thing,’” DeRosa said was his pitch to Judge.
“He called me back within 48 hours and was like, ‘I’m in, I want to do it.’ … I started it in April, I just started slow-playing and trying to make pitches. I was building a Dream Team at night in my apartment on paper. Trying to make lineups out and pitching staffs. I was just slowly cold-calling people and seeing where their heads were at”
That next cold call was to Pirates ace Paul Skenes because, in DeRosa’s mind, Team USA has had trouble getting top-flight pitchers to join the tournament. He barely had to make any effort with the 2025 National League Cy Young Award winner, who pitched two years at Air Force and said he wanted to represent his country to honor the troops.
DeRosa got his two pillars, and the talent followed suit. The U.S. now boasts a roster that includes a combined 65 MLB All-Star selections and six Cy Young Awards.
“The time is now to do it,” Judge said Monday. “USA came up a little short [in 2023], but it’s an exciting group of guys. [DeRosa’s] got quite a squad he’s put together so far, so I’m looking forward to seeing what’s happened.”
