The last Italian-born pitcher to make it to the big leagues was Marino Pieretti, who appeared in 194 games with Washington, Chicago (AL) and Cleveland, a career that ended in 1950. Signed for $210,000 in July 2019 a few months shy of his 18th birthday, Aldegheri could break that 70-plus year schneid. He couldn’t make his Phillies debut until 2021 because of the pandemic, then missed most of '22 with shoulder soreness. He followed up a solid performance across two levels of A ball in 2023, then took another step forward in 2024, reaching Double-A for the first time before traded in the Carlos Estévez deal.
The left-hander’s profile has been upgraded from a back-end rotation or spot-starter type to one who has a real chance to start games in the big leagues. He’s always had four pitches with decent feel for them, and that’s continued as his stuff has ticked up a bit this year. His fastball sits in the low 90s and is up to 95 mph, a high-spin heater that has solid carry in the zone. He has both a slider and a curve, and Aldegheri throws the former a lot more than the latter, a solid low-80s breaking ball. The curve is more of an upper-70s pitch that's improving. Further commitment to his changeup has been a big reason for his improvement, as it’s been very effective against right-handed hitters.
Aldegheri’s walk rate hasn’t been great, but he’s shown more feel for the zone than the numbers might indicate, and there was belief in the Phillies organization that he’ll be a solid strike-thrower as he gets more time on the mound. Now it will be the Angels who can try to help him put the finishing touches in his development as he logs more innings at the upper levels.
While baseball has grown considerably in Italy, there have only been seven players born in the country to make it to the big leagues, the most recent being Alex Liddi, who last played in 2013. There have only been four pitchers, none since 1950. Aldegheri, signed out of Verona in July 2019 for $210,000 hopes to end that very long drought, shaking off the pandemic layoff in 2020 and shoulder soreness that cost him much of 2022 to turn in a solid full, and healthy, season in the Florida State League in 2023.
When everything is clicking for Aldegheri, he fits the prototype of the pitchability left-hander. He has the potential to have four usable pitches, though none of them jump off the page. He’ll throw his fastball in the 90-95 mph range with solid spin rates that result in some solid carry. He has distinct breaking pitches, with the slider perhaps ahead of the curve, and mixes in a decent changeup.
While Aldegheri’s walk rates have been high in the early stages of his career, there’s confidence he’s going to become a more consistent strike-thrower with more reps and instruction. That could allow him to develop into a solid back-end starter at the big league level.
How this works: Every pitch is affected by the forces of gravity,
which means that every pitch drops on its way from the mound to the plate.
These numbers are reported with gravity, which makes them larger and
different than other pitch movement numbers you may have seen. Since gravity
requires time, and slower pitches aren’t ‘better’ just because they have
more time to move, the movement of a pitch is compared to ‘average’ movement
by comparing it to other MLB pitch types within +/- 2 MPH and from within
+/- 0.5 feet of extension and release.
Note: xHR tells how many of this pitcher's home runs allowed would have been out of other stadiums. The "Adjusted" view here accounts for different wall heights, distances and environmental effects using Statcast Park Factor data.
Standard
Year
Team
Avg HR Trot
Actual HR
xHR
HR-xHR
Doubters
Mostly Gone
No Doubters
No Doubter %
2024
23.5
2
2.1
0
1
3
0
0.0
Player
23.5
2
2.1
0
1
3
0
0.0
Note: xHR tells how many of this pitcher's home runs allowed would have been out of other stadiums. The "Standard" view here accounts for different wall heights and distances but excludes environmental effects. It is based purely on the observed trajectory of the hit.
Note: xHR tells how many of this pitcher's home runs allowed would have been out of other stadiums. The "Adjusted" view here accounts for different wall heights, distances and environmental effects using Statcast Park Factor data.
Standard
Year
HR
2024
2
1
2
2
2
2
3
2
2
1
1
3
2
2
4
2
1
1
3
4
3
3
4
3
1
1
1
1
3
2
2
Player
2
1
2
2
2
2
3
2
2
1
1
3
2
2
4
2
1
1
3
4
3
3
4
3
1
1
1
1
3
2
2
Note: xHR tells how many of this pitcher's home runs allowed would have been out of other stadiums. The "Standard" view here accounts for different wall heights and distances but excludes environmental effects. It is based purely on the observed trajectory of the hit.
! Note: Shifts are through the 2022 season, Shaded starting from the 2023 season, Shift:
three or more infielders are on the same side of second base, Shade: positioned outside of
their typical responsible slices of the field. Learn more about
how positioning is defined here