Spain’s Omar Hernandez joins the growing list of Europeans working in Triple-A to achieve their major league dreams. Mathias LaCombe joins him, and will later head to Glendale in the Arizona Fall League. In the lower levels, Italy’s Nicolo Pinazzi and Giaconino Lasaracina had great finishes to already strong seasons, while Filippo Sabatini finally made his professional debut. Several others in the lower levels had strong debuts as well, painting the most recent crop of signings as one of the best in recent years.
September is also a time for roster trimming and, alas, Germany’s Max Kepler and Spain’s Peter Bonilla were released. There are several rumored European signings expected to be official by the start of the 2027 season, which we will cover, along with any off-season contracts.
With only a few days of Triple-A remaining, this will serve as the last update for 2026. As such, we dive behind the numbers for quite of few of the 29 players featured here, focusing on some of the more intriguing seasons compiled by players on the list. With lengthier analysis, this update will be formed of two parts: players in the upper levels of professional baseball in the U.S. (MLB down to Double-A) and those in the low minors. Thanks for reading along this year.
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 (2)
Max Kepler (33), Arizona Diamondbacks. Germany.
Kepler joined the D’backs after serving an 80-game suspension to start the year. This is his 12th consecutive year in the major leagues. It did not go particularly well though, with Kepler hitting .205 in 41 games. He struck out 32 times and drew 11 walks while hitting a pair of home runs and seven doubles.
Kepler was released on Sept. 5. As he is ineligible for the postseason due to his drug suspension, it seems likely that he is finished for 2026, at least in the U.S. After all, he is eligible to play for Germany in the Premier 12 qualifier next month, as he is no longer on an MLB 40-man roster.
Looking to next year, he carries a .234/.314/.421 line through 1240 games over parts of 12 seasons, an exactly league average batting line by measure of OPS+. His counting stats include 19.9 WAR, 181 doubles, 38 stolen bases, and a career defensive WAR of 1.9. In 168 games since the start of 2025, however, he has hit only .213/.291/.370 (80 OPS+) and been worth -0.6 WAR. At one point a well-above average hitter against right-handers (career .761 OPS), he has only a .209/.292/.370 line with the platoon advantage over the past two seasons.
Adam Macko (25), Texas Rangers. Slovakia/Ireland. BA: 23; FG: 17; MLB: NR.
Traded from the Blue Jays to the Texas Rangers at the MLB trade deadline, Macko has pitched seven games for his new big league club, adding to the 22 appearances he had for Toronto before the trade. In total, he is 2-0 with a 5.23 ERA and 1.68 WHIP, striking out 32 in 31 innings, with 14 base on balls. Advanced metrics (a .367 BABIP and 4.87 WHIP) suggest he has been somewhat unlucky. With 72 days on the active roster, not including his callup today, Macko has exhausted his rookie eligibility, a major accomplishment for someone born in Slovakia.
The southpaw also has six appearances in Round Rock. Over nine innings, he has given up 11 hits and 4 walks while striking out 9. Macko has a 4.59 ERA and 1.44 WHIP at Triple-A, also his first season as a reliever. In 33.1 innings, he has 38-to-15 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Triple-A (5)
Sam Aldegheri (24), Los Angeles Angels. Italy. Salt Lake Bees.Aldegheri has been up and down a few times this season, but he has remained on the Triple-A roster since July 5. He is 4-7 with a 7.21 ERA there with a 1.62 WHIP. Barring a return to the majors in the last few days of the season, the left-hander will finish the MLB campaign with a 3-4 record in nine games, including six starts. He has a 5.08 ERA and 1.43 WHIP, compiling 22 strikeouts and 17 free passes in 33.2 innings.
Omar Hernandez (24), Kansas City Royals. Spain. Omaha Storm Chasers.
Hernandez has played nine games since his Triple-A promotion, accumulating eight hits and five strikeouts in 35 at bats. He hit .279 in 247 ABs in Double-A with 14 extra base hits and 20 stolen bases. He has thrown out 15 percent of base stealers in his primary position of catcher.
Mathias LaCombe (24), Chicago White Sox. France. Charlotte Knights. BA: 16; FG: 28; MLB: 18.
LaCombe appeared to be finishing the season with Double-A Birmingham, but not only is he not done pitching for 2026, but he received two separate pieces of good news. First, LaCombe was selected for the prestigious Arizona Fall League, a tremendous vote of confidence for the French right-hander. Second, only two days before going to press, LaCombe was promoted to Triple-A.
Across three levels this season, the Toulouse academy product has a 3-0 record, 3.88 ERA, and 1.22 WHIP in 35 games. He racked up 66 strikeouts in 48.2 innings (12.21 per nine innings), walked 23 (4.25 per nine) and hit another seven batters.
However, over his last 12 outings, which cover the start of August through Sept. 16, LaCombe registered a 1.12 ERA, 0.75 ERA, and 18 strikeouts in 12 innings. Once the Triple-A season ends on Sept. 26, France’s top pitching prospect will head to Arizona for additional work against other prospects and major league-ready players that need more playing time.
Ernesto Martinez, Jr. (27), New York Yankees. France. Scranton Wilkes-Barre Railriders.
Martinez has a .243 batting average and .331 OBP with 17 home runs and 14 stolen bases. He has logged 387 at bats as the primary first baseman with 113 strikeouts, 51 walks, and 38 extra base hits.
Sem Robberse (24), St Louis Cardinals. Netherlands. Memphis Redbirds.
In his return from Tommy John elbow surgery, Robberse made five rehab appearances across two levels in mid-summer, pitching nine innings, allowing 12 hits, striking out nine while walking no one. He has not pitched since July 10 and, according to his minor league transactions, has not been activated from his rehab assignment. It would appear his season is finished.
Double-A (2)
Alessandro Ercolani (22), Pittsburgh Pirates. San Marino/Italy. Altoona Curve.
The righty finished the season on the injured list – his last appearance was June 25. Ercolani had a 4-1 record in 2026 in 18 games and 25 innings, albeit with a 1.76 WHIP and 7.56 ERA.
Nicolò Pinazzi (25), Los Angeles Angels. Italy. Rocket City Trash Pandas. BA: NR; FG: 37; MLB: NR.
Pinazzi was promoted to Double-A on Aug. 3, just after our last update, and has since cracked his first team prospects list (Fangraphs), evidence of his incredible comeback thus far. In the six weeks he spent at the new level before the regular season concluded, Pinazzi’s success continued. In 16.2 Double-A innings, he struck out 24 and allowed nine hits, leading to two wins and a loss, with an eye-popping 0.54 ERA. Across four levels (including a one-game cameo in Triple-A), the lefty compiled a 7-2 record and four saves to go with a 0.84 ERA and 1.22 WHIP, alongside an astonishing 103 strikeouts in 64 innings (14.48 strikeouts per nine, 38.9 strikeout percentage). Batters have hit an anemic .200/.317/.244 off the rejuvenated Italian, whose four-seam fastball maxed out at 97.3 this year.
Along the way, Pinazzi ran off the longest scoreless innings streak in the entire minor leagues since 2016, though it has been 20 seasons since a lefty managed a longer stretch than his. The run began on May 21, and only ended on Sept. 4, with the southpaw going 31 games and 43 innings (across three levels) between runs allowed, according to MLB.com. In that span, he had 76 whiffs and batters hit only .169 against him. Both Fangraphs [link] and MLB.com [link] have run articles on the left-hander, who heads to the Southern League Championship Series this Sunday.
The second half of the final update of Europeans in the Majors and Minors can be found here [link].
Articles in This Year’s Series
April [link].
May [link].
June [link].
July [link].
August [link].
Additional statistical analysis by Gabriel Fidler.