By DZ. Filed Aug. 3, 2026.
Italy’s Nicolo Pinazzi is currently riding a more than two-month scoreless streak; Slovakia and Ireland’s Adam Macko was traded at the MLB trade deadline; and Germany’s Tom Apfelbaum made the DSL All-Star Team. Elsewhere, recent signings Giaconino Lasaracina and Juan Holmann are raking. On a less celebratory note, two players were released — Netherlands’ Keegan Pieternella and Italy’s Ettore Giulianelli. The Florida and Arizona complex seasons are finished, while the Dominican complex regular season ends Aug. 18. The full-season leagues have four-to-five weeks left.
Key
Name (age*), organization, country, team.
*Age is as of Sept 1, 2026 (playing age this season).
Team Prospect Rankings: BA (Baseball America): #; FG (Fangraphs): #; MLB (MLB.com): #.
“NR” denotes not ranked (only included for players listed in other rankings).
MLB (1)
Max Kepler (33), Arizona Diamondbacks. Germany.
Kepler has 83 at bats since his mid-season return to the big leagues. His average is up to .229 and he has two homers, six doubles, and eight walks. It seems that the veteran is starting to get on track, as he has a .237/.356/.395 line over the past fortnight, and has cut back drastically on the strikeouts. Early returns on his fielding metrics suggests that his defense in left field has been above average, perhaps significantly so (1.000 fielding percentage, but a league-leading nine in Total Zone Total Fielding Average (Rtot).
Triple-A (4)
Sam Aldegheri (24), Los Angeles Angels. Italy. Salt Lake Bees.Aldegheri has split time between the big league club and Triple-A. He has been in the starting rotation in Salt Lake for the last month, walking nine and striking out 21 in four starts and 19.2 innings, allowing 25 hits and 20 runs.
Adam Macko (25), Texas Rangers. Slovakia/Ireland. TBD. BA: 20; FG: 17; MLB: 20.
Macko returned from Toronto to Triple-A a few days ago. He has pitched 22 games in the majors and 19 in the minors this season. On Aug. 3, Macko was traded to the Texas Rangers for Josh Smith and a prospect. In composite between the majors and minors, the southpaw has pitched to a 4-2 record in 46.1 innings with 52 strikeouts. He has a 4.07 ERA, 27.6 percent strikeout rate, and 10.5 percent walk rate in the minors, with those figures at 4.91, 23.2, and 10.1 in the bigs.
Ernesto Martínez Jr. (27), New York Yankees. France. Scranton Wilkes-Barre Railriders.
Martinez has 16 home runs and eight stolen bases in his first season as a Yankee. He has played mostly first base while also seeing some time in the corner outfield. Wrapping up his first decade as a pro, Martinez is seeking one more promotion. He is hitting .241 with a .325 OBP.
Sem Robberse (24), St Louis Cardinals. Netherlands. Memphis Redbirds. BA: NR; FG: 22; MLB: NR.
In his return from Tommy John elbow surgery, Robberse made five rehab appearances across two levels, pitching nine innings, allowing 12 hits, striking out nine, while walking no one. He remains on the 60-day injured list, and has not pitched since July 10.Double-A (3)
Alessandro Ercolani (22), Pittsburgh Pirates. San Marino/Italy. Altoona Curve.
The righty remains on the injured list — his last appearance was June 25. Ercolani has a 4-1 record in 2026 in 18 games and 25 innings, albeit with a 1.76 WHIP and 7.56 ERA.
Omar Hernández (24), Kansas City Royals. Spain. NW Arkansas Naturals.
Hernández is in his seventh professional season (eighth counting the COVID year with no minor league play). He had not hit above .231 since 2019, and yet, in 63 games played into the 2026 season, he is hitting an even .300, with 19 stolen bases in 24 attempts. The catcher, who also been receiving additional at-bats as a designated hitter, has 13 extra base hits, 17 walks, and 46 strikeouts. He has caught 11 of 75 potential base0stealers.
Mathias LaCombe (24), Chicago White Sox. France. Birmingham Barons. BA: 15; FG: 30; MLB: 15.
LaCombe has appeared in five games since his promotion to Double-A. He has continued to strike batters out at a very high level (11 Ks in 5.2 innings), but for the first time in his pro career, he is getting hit. Noting the small sample, opponents have hit .370 off him, with 10 hits and five walks. However, even within his short period in Birmingham, the French righty has two separate scoreless outings.
High-A (3)
Tyriq Kemp (23), Kansas City Royals. Netherlands. Quad Cities River Bandits.
Kemp is 90 games into his High-A career, the first full pro season of his career. He is splitting time between shortstop and second base while hitting .239/.355/.392. He has stolen 25 bases in 35 attempts.
Nicolo Pinazzi (25), Los Angeles Angels. Italy. Tri-City Dust Devils.
Pinazzi has not allowed an earned run since May 17.. He has pitched in 20 games since then with 19 hits, 56 strikeouts, and 12 walks. He has a 5-1 record and 0.95 ERA in 47.1 innings with 79 strikeouts and 26 free passes. Pinazzi pitched 3 seasons (2021–23) in the Reds system, then bounced around independent leagues until signing with the Angels last offseason.
Yannic Walther (22), Milwaukee Brewers. Germany. Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.
Walther’s played 50 games this season, every one of them at catcher. He is hitting .183/.339/.282 across Single-A and High-A. He has two stolen bases himself without being caught, and he has thrown out 28 percent of potential thieves.
Single-A (6)
Peter Bonilla (21), Los Angeles Dodgers. Spain. Ontario Tower Buzzers.
Bonilla moved to Single-A in late June. In nine games and nine innings at the new level, the lefty has allowed 18 hits and 14 walks while striking out 11. He had a 1.52 WHIP in rookie ball while striking out over 1.5 batters per inning, but that WHIP has ballooned to 3.44 in Ontario with an ERA of 17.00. This is the Barcelona native’s fifth season in the Dodgers organization.
Ettore Giulianelli (23), Cleveland Guardians. Italy. Hill City Howlers.
Giulianelli’s second act has come to an end, as he was released in late July after 24.2 innings, during which he totalled 26 hits, 38 free passes, and 34 strikeouts. This was his fifth season in the minors, having pitched in the Cardinals’ system for four years before spending 2025 out of affiliated baseball. He has a career 4.92 ERA, 1.92 WHIP, and 112 walks to 138 strikeouts in 93.1 frames.
Brandon Herbold (23), Kansas City Royals. Netherlands. Columbia Fireflies.
Herbold opened the season with five scoreless outings and, at last check-in, he had pulled the trick again, pitching the entire month of June with a 0.00 ERA. He walked 15 in 7 innings throughout July, however, leading to a 13.50 ERA for the month. Overall, the southpaw is 2-3 with a 6.59 ERA in 26 games, striking out 35 and walking 32 in 27.1 innings.
Giaconino Lasaracina (22), Toronto Blue Jays. Italy. Dunedin Blue Jays.
The Venezuela native signed out of Italy last season. He hit the ground running in the complex league, and full-season baseball has only slowed him down a bit. The catcher-first baseman is hitting .253 with seven extra base hits in 21 games at the higher level. He is hitting .299/.392/.575 overall for the year.
Dominic Scheffler (22), Cincinnati Reds. Switzerland. Daytona Tortugas.
Scheffler has completed at least three innings in his last two appearances, a first in the 2026 season. Since June 1, he has given up only 11 hits in 21 innings. He has had 20 free passes and 21 strikeouts in the same period — still too many walks — but his season ERA has steadily decreased and is now 5.19 after sitting at 9.64 at the end of May. This is the Swiss lefty’s third pro season after signing out of the Regensburg Academy and having elbow surgery before his first pro pitch.
Giacomo Taschin (19), Toronto Blue Jays. Italy. Dunedin Blue Jays.
Taschin has started seven games since his promotion to Single-A six starts into his debut season. He has pitched 23 innings with a 5.87 ERA, 18 hits, 18 walks, and 24 strikeouts. Add that to his dominant rookie league showing, and his total season (and pro career) line is a 1-3 record, 3.94 ERA, and 1.25 WHIP in 14 games.
Rookie League, U.S. Complex Leagues (5)
The US complex league season is finished for 2026, so minus any individual promotions over the next month, the players here are done with official play (although many will continue to play in unofficial “bridge league” games while they await the unofficial “instructional league” work and games in September.
Fabio Bundi (22), Florida Marlins. Switzerland. FCL Marlins.
Bundi played in Switzerland, took part in MLB European camps, and has represented his national team. He went to California to attend a junior college, and he was playing this summer for Hamburg in the German Baseball Liga when he was drafted, becoming the second-ever Swiss minor leaguer. The right-hander is assigned to the rookie complex league, so he may not make his official debut until next year.
Tijn Fredrikze (19), New York Yankees. Netherlands. FCL Yankees.
The Neptunus lefty has yet to debut, as he is on the injured list.
Mathis Nayral (22), Toronto Blue Jays. France. FCL Blue Jays.
Nayral, a right-handed pitcher from Montpelier, attended Cochise College in Arizona and advanced to the University of Kansas for one season before being drafted in July. He has yet to debut.
Keegan Pieternella (18), Toronto Blue Jays. Netherlands. FCL Blue Jays.
Pieternella played 16 games in the U.S. this season, hitting .220 with two extra base hits and 0-for-1 in stolen base attempts. He was released at the conclusion of the FCL season. He played two years with the Blue Jays, one in the Dominican and one in the U.S., finishing with 51 games under his belt, 131 at bats, and a .206/.354/.244 career slash line.
Gijs van den Brink (21), Kansas City Royals. Netherlands. ACL Royals.
Gijs made just one appearance last season, dealing with a shoulder injury. He has been on the 60-day injured list for the entire season to date.
Rookie League, Dominican Complex Leagues (10)
There are two weeks of the DSL regular season remaining. Here’s the latest on the Europeans on the first rung of the formal professional ladder.
Tom Apfelbaum (17), Los Angeles Dodgers. Germany. DSL LAD Bautista.
One of the younger players in the league, Apfelbaum was selected as a DSL All-Star. He has pitched 25 innings over games, striking out 23, walking or hitting 32, and allowing 20 hits with a 4.68 ERA.
Kenny Fermin (19), West Sacramento Athletics. Germany. DSL Athletics.
Moving around the infield — though he has played mostly shortstop and first base— Fermin has 60 at bats in 26 games, hitting .200/.395/.267 with a pair of extra base hits and four stolen bases. He has walked 11 times and struck out in 22 plate appearances.
Cayro Hazel (18), Toronto Blue Jays. Netherlands.
Has yet to debut.
Paul Hoff (19), Milwaukee Brewers. Germany. DSL Brewers Gold.
Hoff is off to a strong start, with 5-0 with a 2.08 ERA in eight games and 34.2 innings. He has 37 strikeouts and 16 walks with a 1.15 WHIP.
Juan Holmann (17), Minnesota Twins. Germany. DSL Twins.
Holmann has continued with his hot start, maintaining an average over .300 (.314) and OBP over .500 (.538) while stealing 14 bases in 18 attempts. He has 10 extra base hits and has walked 31 times while striking out 31 times.
Celwin Hurkmans (19), Toronto Blue Jays. Netherlands. DSL Blue Jays Blue.
Hurkmans pitched two innings in his pro debut with two hits, two walks, and three strikeouts. He reported to the Dominican following the Under-18 European Championship.
Jordan Ouanyou (18), Cincinnati Reds. France. DSL Rojos.
The French lefty has more walks than strikeouts (21 to 19) and six extra base hits while hitting .291/.440/.418. The first baseman has played 27 games.
Ricardo Pulles (17), Los Angeles Dodgers. Russia/Spain. DSL LAD Bautista.
The switch-hitting catcher has 12 hits, 26 strikeouts, and nine walks in 26 games and 71 at bats. In 13 games behind the plate, he has caught 14 baserunners stealing.
Filippo Sabatini (19), Philadelphia Phillies. Italy. DSL Phillies.
The RHP is on the injured list and has yet to make his debut.
Patrick Silva (17), Philadelphia Phillies. Italy. DSL Phillies.
Silva hit .381 in the month of July, raising his line in his first pro season to .288/408/.339. He has 10 walks, 15 strikeouts, and a pair of extra base hits in 23 games.
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