Blue Jays Pitcher Adam Macko’s Journey to Making MLB History
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Well, parents, maybe all that time your kids spend on screens isn't so bad.
Take the case of Blue Jays rookie left-hander Adam Macko. He learned to pitch by watching YouTube videos, learned English by watching baseball movies, and was inspired by a video game to emulate a fellow left-hander.
When you are born in Slovakia, have a one-year layover in Ireland while waiting for a Canadian visa, and then move to Alberta, Canada, you have to get creative to become a Major League pitcher. And on Monday night, at Yankee Stadium no less, Macko became exactly that — the first Slovakian-born player in MLB History.
Macko was called up when reliever Tommy Nance was placed on the injured list With lefty Joe Mantiply landing on the injured list, Macko now becomes an increasingly important southpaw in a fragile Toronto bullpen.
Baseball in Bratislava
Let's start at the beginning, in fact, before Adam Macko was even born.
His parents, Vladimir and Milena, had long dreamed of moving from Slovakia to Canada. But two kids, work, and Slovakia not being the easiest place to leave put that dream on hold.
So Adam grew up in the Slovakian capital, Bratislava, near the borders with Austria and Hungary.
On the first day of first grade, many kids find a new best friend.
Adam found baseball.
He discovered the school was offering baseball as a free extracurricular. When he came home, he shared with his parents that he was playing baseball. As Adam shared with Alberta Dugout Stories, Vladimir responded, "Baseball? In Slovakia? Impossible!"
"Baseball? In Slovakia? Impossible!"Vladimir Macko (Adam's father)
Vladimir's only experience with the sport was having once played it on, yep, you guessed it, a screen. Only in his case: a low-graphics-quality Atari 600. He didn't understand the rules, not a surprise given soccer and hockey dominate the Slovakian sports landscape. Baseball also ranks well behind volleyball, tennis, and basketball, to name just a few.
Adam discovered he had an aptitude for baseball and enjoyed it under the Slovakian coaches, who focused on having fun and throwing strikes. His team only ever played against one other team, which was 30 minutes away. That is the Slovakian version of travel ball.
Vladimir and Milena's dream of moving to Canada may have been deferred, but it had not died. When Adam was eleven, the family applied for a Canadian visa. While they waited on the visa process, they emigrated to Ireland.
Irish Eyes Are Watching YouTube Videos
Ireland is also not exactly a baseball hotbed. But Adam was growing increasingly serious about baseball and, through an Internet search, found the best local baseball club, the Greystone Mariners. He even saw his first-ever MLB game on a TV while walking by an Irish pub.
He also started teaching himself. To be the best, Adam studied the best. In 2011, that meant watching YouTube videos of Justin Verlander, the most dominant pitcher in baseball. In 2011, Verlander won the Pitching Triple Crown, the Cy Young, and the MVP. Macko tried to emulate not only Verlander's mechanics, but also his style and demeanor on the mound.
He later added David Price, a fellow left-hander, to his YouTube playlist after Price appeared on the cover of MLB. Surprisingly, Macko found it easier to learn pitching mechanics by watching the right-handed Verlander than the lefty Price. Even to this day, he finds it easier to absorb mechanical information by watching righties like Jacob deGrom than lefties.
The family's layover in Ireland was both because some family had moved there and spoke enthusiastically about it, and also an opportunity for the Macko family to better learn English.
The Macko Family Moves to Alberta
After roughly a year and a half in Ireland, a Slovakian contact offered Vladimir a job in Alberta, Canada, as a concrete pump operator with A&B Concrete Pumping in Acheson, Alberta near Edmonton. Not only did this enable Vladimir to obtain a Canadian work visa, but it also enabled Adam to attend Vauxhall Academy, one of Canada's premier baseball academies.
Adam improved his English by watching baseball movies with Slovakian subtitles. He also played at Vauxhall for former Seattle Mariners scout Les McTavish. In 2019 his team the Langley Blaze played against some Mariner minor leaguers in Arizona. The Mariners were intrigued by the lefty and selected him in the 7th round of that June's MLB Draft.
In 2022, the Mariners traded Macko to the Blue Jays along with Erik Swanson for Teoscar Hernandez. Macko had primarily been a starter in the Mariners system with mixed results.
The Blue Jays saw enough potential in Macko to add him to the 40-man roster in November 2023 to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft. Macko has struck out more than a batter per inning in every one of his seven minor league seasons but also has a career minor league ERA of 4.59 and a WHIP of 1.33.
Late in the 2025 season, Toronto converted him to a full-time reliever. Macko started 2026 in Buffalo. On Sunday, he was promoted to the Major Leagues, making him the first Slovakian-born Major Leaguer.
A Strong Major League Debut
On Monday, he made his debut at Yankee Stadium. He retired the Bronx Bombers, jeden, dva, tri, which is 1-2-3 in Slovakian, in the sixth inning to preserve a 5-3 lead and earn his first Major League hold. Tuesday night, he notched his first strikeout, going two-thirds of an inning and allowing one hit.
It was not Macko's first-time pitching under bright lights. He pitched for Canada in the WBC and struck out both Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber in 1.2 innings of scoreless relief in Canada's quarterfinal loss to the United States.
As you might imagine, there is a great deal of pride in Slovakia for what Macko has accomplished. Milujeme baseball, which claims to be the best Czech baseball website, tweeted in a mix of Czech and Slovak about Macko's MLB debut.
HISTORIE NAPSÁNA!
— Milujeme Baseball (@MilujemeBasebal) May 19, 2026
Adam Macko v noci nastoupil do zápasu proti New York Yankees a stal se tak prvním slovenským nadhazovačem v historii MLB, který začínal s baseballem na Slovensku.
A vedl si parádně! Postavil se proti třem pálkařům a ani jednoho nepustil na metu! Gratulujeme! pic.twitter.com/Wh9rKaBGXx
The English translation of the tweet is below.
Macko's debut was historic in any language. His path to get there was one-of-a-kind.
Perhaps he will also inspire more kids to dream of being pitchers rather than YouTubers. And if a young boy in Slovakia wants to learn about pitching, he can watch Adam Macko's first Major League punchout on YouTube.
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Adam Steinmetz writes about the Toronto Blue Jays for SI.com. Adam is also the editor and publisher of the Boston Sunday Sports Section, a weekly digital publication covering the Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics, and Bruins. A two-time winner of the Best Collegiate Sports Writer award in Philadelphia, he began his career with freelance work for The Philadelphia Daily News and The Palm Beach Post before building a successful career outside of journalism. He returned to sports writing last year, contributing to Pitcher List—including coverage of the Toronto Blue Jays—before launching Authorenticity on Substack, where he explores the human stories within baseball. The Boston Sunday Sports Section is his most ambitious project — the thinking fan’s modern Sunday Sports Section focused on the Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics, and Bruins.