The pitching paisan: Sam Aldegheri, a Phillies prospect from Italy, has big(-league) dreams

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Sam Aldegheri fell in love with baseball by accident. As a kid in San Martino Buon Albergo — a small town in Verona, Italy — his only connection to Major League Baseball was forged through YouTube videos of Clayton Kershaw. One of the few baseball fields in Verona was five minutes from his house. His older brother was a pitcher. The boys’ parents were too busy with work to take them to soccer, so this was it.

“I grew up at the baseball field,” Aldehgeri said.

This is a perfectly American story that happened in the unlikeliest of places — a medieval town that was the setting for “Romeo and Juliet.” Aldegheri discovered he threw better with his left hand. His brother, a righty, taught him how to pitch. Some Italian coaches offered cursory advice. He discovered MLB through internet highlight reels.

And, when he was 15, a scout from the Kansas City Royals noticed Aldegheri at a tournament in Spain. “You might be a prospect,” the scout told him. Aldegheri had to convince his mother it wasn’t a joke.

That’s when he knew.

“I need to be a big leaguer,” Aldegheri said. “I need to sign for a professional team.”

The Phillies paid him a $210,000 bonus to sign in 2019. The kid from Verona, Italy, can reach 95 mph now. He is not a top prospect, but he’s intriguing to rival evaluators, some of whom have projected him as a possible back-of-the-rotation pitcher in the majors. Aldegheri, 22, has pitched only 117 innings since signing and finished last season at High A. But the Phillies put Aldegheri on their prospect team for a showcase game Saturday.

“It’s an interesting profile,” Phillies assistant general manager Preston Mattingly said of Aldegheri. “It’s what starting pitchers look like in the minor leagues.”

It’s been 74 years since an Italian-born player threw a pitch in an MLB game. Marino Pieretti, a righty who appeared in 194 games from 1945-50, moved to America before he turned 1. Alex Liddi, an infielder, played 61 games for the Seattle Mariners from 2011-13. He was the first one raised in Italy to reach the majors.

Aldegheri would be the first Italian-born-and-raised pitcher. 

“Oh, I’m a hundred percent sure that I will make it,” Aldegheri said. “I don’t know how and when. But I’m sure I will make it to the bigs.”

Why?

“Because it’s my life,” he said. “I’m working out every day. It’s my dream. I am living to be a big leaguer. I’ve made a lot of sacrifices. I’m far from home, from my family. I left everything there. That’s what I feel like I’m living for. So I’m 100 percent sure. I know I’m a good pitcher. I have good stuff.”

The Phillies employ a scout, Claudio Scerrato, whose job is to roam all of Europe. “It’s not always that productive, but he knows the players,” said Sal Agostinelli, the Phillies’ longtime international scouting boss. Scerrato, who is based in Italy, called Agostinelli in 2019 with a tip about Aldegheri. Agostinelli was planning to attend a European tournament, but this sealed it.

“I remember like it was today,” Agostinelli said. “He comes out to start the game and he’s 88 to 91 (mph). A left-handed, 17-year-old kid. I’m like, ‘What the f— is this?’ I’m like, ‘Holy s—.’ And the thing is, he did it easy.”

It was confusing because Aldegheri looked more polished than most Italian-born pitchers. The only professional league in the country plays on weekends. It’s the equivalent of Low-A ball — maybe. Italian descendants have starred in the majors. But the sport has not evolved there.

“In Italy, I didn’t even know what arm care was,” Aldegheri said. “I didn’t even know how to do medicine ball exercises or anything like that. So everything was like, ‘Wow.’ Even the Trackman during bullpens. At first, when they showed me the numbers, I’m like, ‘I don’t know what you’re showing me, man.’ For me, everything here is new.”

Aldegheri credited his older brother, Mattia, who has pitched five years in Italian Serie A, with developing his mechanics. “I don’t know if he saw something in me, or just because he was my brother and wanted to help,” Aldegheri said. He urged Sam to keep trying. Sam called Mattia “my hero.”

It took months to negotiate the deal with the Phillies in 2019. Agostinelli, the son of Italian immigrants, feared that Aldegheri’s father was shopping the Phillies’ offer to other teams.

“And it wasn’t that at all,” Agostinelli said. “He just was worried.”

Severino, Aldegheri’s father, works with glass windows. His mother works in a large bakery. “Especially for Italians, family is really important,” Aldegheri said. “It’s the first thing.” It’s not as if his parents did not believe in him.

“They just didn’t want to accept that I was leaving home,” Aldegheri said. “But now they’re happy.”

This month, Aldegheri’s parents are coming to America to see him pitch for the first time. One of Agostinelli’s favorite wines in the entire world — Amarone — is from Verona.

Severino is bringing a few bottles for Agostinelli.

Aldegheri has a photo on his iPhone of a ticket stub from Aug. 24, 2021 — the only big-league game he’s attended. The Phillies flew him to Philadelphia so he could meet with team doctors. He sat in Section 121 at Citizens Bank Park and watched the Phillies lose to the Tampa Bay Rays.

The dream wasn’t as bright then. The pandemic prevented him from coming to America in 2020 and delayed his arrival in 2021. By August 2021, Aldegheri had been diagnosed with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow. He rested it, then reinjured it in 2022. He never had surgery. He weathered his first full professional season in 2023 and posted a 4.20 ERA in 83 2/3 innings with a 27 percent strikeout rate and 10 percent walk rate. He could spin the ball. His fastball sat 92.5 mph. He gained physical and mental strength.

He spent October and November at the Phillies’ complex in Florida. He flew home to Italy for the holidays, then returned to America on Jan. 7. As the big-league pitchers arrived, Aldegheri found a daily spot behind the mounds to watch Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler and Ranger Suárez. He marveled at the cameras and attention devoted to routine throwing sessions.

“Being that close to big leaguers,” Aldegheri said, “we can touch it.”

He has not considered his potential place in MLB history. His teammates tease him about it; they call him the Italian Stallion. Aldegheri could reach the majors in the city that fetishizes Rocky Balboa. He’s aware of the strong Italian culture in Philadelphia.

“That’s why I want to play there,” he said.

“I mean, he’s got a chance,” Agostinelli said. “He’s a lefty. Put it this way: If he stays healthy, he’ll pitch in the big leagues. He will.”

But Aldegheri still has much to prove. He’ll begin the season at High-A Jersey Shore and, by the end of the season, he hopes to have forced the Phillies to add him to the 40-man roster. He called himself “a normal kid from Italy,” but knows that as his profile grows, he could become an inspiration for another generation of Italian baseball players.

“Follow your dreams and work hard,” Aldegheri said. “Because it’s worth it. I’m living a dream and I can say, ‘Thank God, I’m here.’”

(Top photo of Sam Aldegheri pitching for Low-A Clearwater in 2023: Mike Janes / Four Seam Images via Associated Press)

Matt Gelb is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Philadelphia Phillies. He has covered the team since 2010 while at The Philadelphia Inquirer, including a yearlong pause from baseball as a reporter on the city desk. He is a graduate of Syracuse University and Central Bucks High School West.