Captain America: Aaron Judge is first player named to Team USA for 2026 World Baseball Classic

NEW YORK — For the first time in his professional career, Aaron Judge wore a baseball hat that represented something other than the New York Yankees.

“Got the right size,” Judge said as he smiled and placed a fitted Team USA cap on his head.

Of course, it was the right size, because Mark DeRosa had been dreaming about Judge representing the United States from the moment he agreed to become the manager of Team USA in the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

He doesn’t have to dream anymore. Judge and DeRosa formally announced on Monday afternoon at Yankee Stadium that he’ll serve as the captain for Team USA in next year’s much-anticipated global tournament. It will be Judge’s first time participating in the WBC, and he’s the first player to be named to the Team USA roster for 2026.

“Getting the chance to represent the country, just thinking about all the brave men and women that have fought for this country and laid their lives down for us to get a chance to go out there and play a game, it’s a pretty humbling experience,” Judge said. “Happy to represent the U.S. And I’m happy to be your captain.”

For DeRosa, envisioning Judge leading the team onto the field while holding the American flag made too much sense. But first, he had to clear it with the guy who carried the flag before the US took on Team Japan in the 2023 WBC Final. Angels outfielder Mike Trout was the Team USA captain in 2023, and he’s happy to pass that responsibility to Judge.

“I reached out to Trout yesterday,” DeRosa said. “Told him where we were going. He said, ‘He’s the one.’ I couldn’t be more fired up for Aaron Judge to be the captain for Team USA.”

USA vs. Japan Highlights | 2023 World Baseball Classic Championship

Judge said he did not speak with the Yankees prior to his decision to play in the 2026 WBC.

“I think he’s the perfect face to be the captain of Team USA,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I know he’s really excited about it. I think it’ll be a great thing.”

This was DeRosa’s second time asking Judge to play for Team USA. Judge was recruited to join the star-studded US roster in the winter of 2022, but he was a little busy navigating his own free agency at the time. Plus, he had just finished a grind of a 2022 campaign; hitting 62 home runs with the media and fan frenzy that accompanied breaking a historical record can take a toll on anyone.

When the two-time MVP award winner eventually signed a nine-year deal with the Yankees and was named captain in December of that year, his main priority became spending time with his teammates. Judge didn’t feel like it was the right time to abandon the Yankees’ spring training.

But Judge, who will be 33 years old on April 26, said he always wanted to play for Team USA. Now he’ll follow in the footsteps of former Yankees captain Derek Jeter, who represented Team USA in the World Baseball Classic in 2006 and 2009.

“I got an opportunity before I get too old and Mark doesn’t want me out there anymore,” he quipped.

DeRosa played alongside Jeter as a member of Team USA in the 2009 WBC. He appeared in all eight games, hit .316, and led the red, white, and blue with nine RBI on the way to USA’s first semifinal appearance in the event.

“It’s different when you have the USA across your chest. I can’t speak to that enough,” DeRosa said. “Something happens when you put USA across your chest and you walk into the clubhouse and you see all those guys. It just means something a little bit different. You’re playing for way more than yourself. You’re playing for your great-grandfather. You’re playing for your grandparents, your parents, what they represent, your morals, your values, everything. It’s just a different feeling.”

The WBC has seemed to increase in popularity since the USA defeated Puerto Rico to win the championship game in 2017. But there was nothing like the pandemonium that surrounded 2023’s international event, when DeRosa piloted the most star-studded roster in WBC history.

Team USA’s 30-man roster featured 21 All-Stars and four MVPs, including Trout, Mookie Betts, Paul Goldschmidt and Clayton Kershaw. Though they came close two years ago before Shohei Ohtani and Samurai Japan stood in the way, Team USA’s last and only WBC championship was won in 2017. The first three installments of the tournament, which began in 2006, were won by Japan (twice) and the Dominican Republic.

Judge is hungry to reclaim the title for Team USA. Though he will leave the responsibility of player recruitment to his skipper, it will be interesting to see if there’s a ripple effect around baseball now that one of the biggest faces of the sport has announced that he will play. Could reigning National League Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes be next? What about All-Star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.?

“I think this team is going to be on a mission,” Judge said. “A lot of hungry guys from the last WBC team that want to be in it. I’m going to leave it up to Mark and let him do his thing. Get the team that he got last time and add a couple more faces.”

DeRosa said, from a position-player standpoint, he could “probably fill out five lineups with guys that want to do it.” But it’s the pitching staff that will be more difficult to lock down. Pitchers (and their managers) are typically apprehensive about messing with their ramp-ups from their offseason layoffs in case it leads to injury. Since the WBC takes place during spring training, it can be tough for pitchers to agree to jump into that competitive playoff environment while keeping in mind that they’re still building up their workloads for the Major League Baseball season.

“That’s the hardest thing for these guys,” DeRosa said. “They’re coming right out of 10 days in spring training and they’re getting smacked in the mouth with a playoff at-bat. But that’s the beauty of it as well, to see the greatest players in our country come together and kind of — I don’t want to say shed their egos, because that’s what makes them successful — but play as one, and play as a team.”

“I feel like we’re all under one flag, one nation,” Judge said. “I think that’s a pretty cool concept that you get a bunch of guys that compete against each other all year long, and now you can bring us all together and fight under one mission. It’s going to be something special. The excitement of getting a chance to represent your country. We play this game for such a small amount of time, so to get an opportunity like this, I think guys really gravitate towards it.”

Full WBC rosters will be finalized by next February. Team USA will play in Pool B, which will include Brazil, Great Britain, Italy and Mexico. Pool B is scheduled to take place from March 6-11 at Daikin Park in Houston, the home of the Astros. The semifinals and finals will be held in Miami at LoanDepot Park, the home of the Miami Marlins, beginning on March 15.

Until then, Judge is on a different mission. He’s focused on getting the Yankees back to the World Series and winning his first championship. Simple enough.

“I’m hoping for a long, long season this year,” Judge said. “Very short offseason. And we’ll just keep it rolling right into the WBC.”

Deesha Thosar is a MLB reporter and columnist for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets for four years as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.

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