Aaron Judge out in WBC as Joseph Contreras draft snub stuns scouts

Aaron Judge was grounded into a double play by Joseph Contreras on 10 March 2026 during the World Baseball Classic, yet the Brazilian right-hander went completely unselected in the 2026 MLB Draft on 12 July 2026.

Contreras, a 17-year-old high school senior, was pitching for Team Brazil on 10 March 2026 when he forced Aaron Judge into a 6-4-3 double play. The moment flashed across highlight reels and stoked draft buzz around the son of former MLB pitcher Jose Contreras. Scouts pegged Contreras as a potential top-two-round talent, but when the 613 picks were exhausted on 12 July 2026, his name never appeared.

Teams had already penciled Contreras in as a Vanderbilt lock. MLB.com’s pre-draft blurb on 30 June 2026 noted that he “could fit into the top two rounds as one of the higher-ceiling arms in the high school class, though teams will have to sign him away from a Vanderbilt commitment.” With the Commodores already set to land one of the game’s top pitching prospects, scouts treated Contreras as a non-starter in 2026.

Contreras will pitch for Vanderbilt in 2026-27 and re-enter the draft in 2029. If his development mirrors the Commodores’ pipeline-think Walker Buehler or Sonny Gray-he could rocket up boards in three years. For now, the 17-year-old remains on campus in Nashville, waiting for his next shot at the big leagues.

Judge’s 10 March 2026 double-play grounder became the most-watched plate appearance of the tournament. It also became the moment that briefly catapulted Contreras into the spotlight-only for the spotlight to flicker out when the draft passed without his name called.