"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." (The Athletic; "The pitching paisan: Sam Aldegheri, a Phillies prospect from Italy, has big(-league) dreams", Mat Gelb, 3/15/24)

Samuel Aldegheri (born September 19, 2001 in Verona, Italy) is an Italian professional baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels.

Sam played for the Parma Clima of the Italian Baseball League in 2019 and 2020. In July 2019, he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies as an international free agent. He made his professional debut in 2021 with the Rookie-level Florida Complex League Phillies before being promoted to the Low-A Clearwater Threshers. He was placed on the injured list with a left elbow injury on August 20 and missed the remainder of the season and a portion of the following season, which he spent exclusively in the Florida Complex League.

Aldegheri returned to Clearwater for the start of the 2023 season before being promoted to the High-A Jersey Shore BlueClaws on August 3. After the 2023 season ended, his control was ranked the best in the Phillies farm system by Baseball America. Aldegheri returned to Jersey Shore for the start of the 2024 season. On July 27, 2024, the Phillies traded Aldegheri and George Klassen to the Los Angeles Angels in exchange for Carlos Estévez.

On August 29, 2024, the Angels called up both Aldegheri & Caden Dana to the Major Leagues for the first time.

Sam is the 8th player born in Italy to play major league baseball - see the others here. When Sam made his debut, it had been 74 years since an Italian-born player threw a pitch in an MLB game: Marino Pieretti, a righty pitcher who appeared in 194 games from 1945-50.  Alex Liddi, an infielder, played 61 games for the Seattle Mariners from 2011-13. He was the first player raised in Italy to reach the majors.

(excerpted from Baseball Almanac, BR Bullpen & Wikipedia)