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At 17 years old, Joseph Contreras got the best hitter in baseball to ground into a double play on national television.
Brazil was outclassed on Friday night by Team USA in a 15-5 win for the Americans, but a couple sons of former big-league stars stood out for the Brazilians. Lucas Ramirez (Manny’s son) hit a pair of home runs, while a promising young arm of a former New York Yankees standout gave an admirable performance.
Contreras is still in high school, and he qualified for the Brazilian team through his mother’s heritage. On Friday night, he was facing Aaron Judge. The right-hander is the son of Jose Contreras, the Cuban pitcher who played 11 big-league seasons and made 299 career appearances, including 32 for the Chicago White Sox in 2005 when they won the World Series.
Brazil starter Bo Takahashi only pitched one inning before Contreras pitched the second. Byron Buxton lined out before Brice Turang doubled. Then, Bobby Witt Jr. and Bryce Harper walked to load the bases for Judge.
The three-time American League MVP hit a ground ball that left the bat at just 77.2 mph right to Brazil third baseman Leonardo Reginatto, who started a double play that ended the second inning.
“Impressive,” Judge said at the podium after the game of Contreras. “I know I wasn’t doing that at that age. Just great stuff. I know he had some poise on the mound. He’s throwing up to 100 miles an hour. He’s facing Team USA, a lot of guys he has seen on TV.
“It was just impressive, impressive just seeing him control himself out there and get out of a big jam. And he had some good stuff.”
Contreras started the second inning by giving up a single to Kyle Schwarber, who advanced to second base on a wild pitch and then to third on an Alex Bregman groundout. Schwarber then scored on another wild pitch that was also ball four to Cal Raleigh. That was the last pitch of the night for the young Contreras.
According to MLB.com, Contreras is the No. 47 prospect for this summer’s MLB Draft. He is committed to play college baseball at Vanderbilt right now.
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