University of Tennessee Athletics
Kyle Serrano Named No. 16 Draft Prospect
December 03, 2014 | Baseball
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- This week, Perfect Game USA released their Top 100 Prospect list for the 2016 Major League Baseball Draft. Among the list of active collegiate-level players, Tennessee right-handed pitcher Kyle Serrano was named the No. 16 prospect by the national outlet.
During his freshman campaign in 2014 with the Vols, Serrano pitched in 19 games and made nine starts, combining for a 3-3 record with one save and a 4.55 ERA. Notably, the righthander earned his first-career win against Purdue in February, throwing 5.0 strong innings in his collegiate baseball debut. Serrano also earned his first win in SEC play by tossing 5.1 shutout innings against Vanderbilt, allowing just two hits while fanning three in the outing.
This summer, Serrano also pitched for the Matsu Miners of the Alaska Baseball League. In his seven appearances, including six starts, he went 0-2 with a 4.18 ERA and recorded 35 strikeouts in 23.2 innings pitched. Serrano's 35 strikeouts ranked fifth-best in the league, while his 23.2 innings pitched were tied for second-most among the Matsu pitching staff.
Most recently, Serrano threw 2.0 scoreless innings in Tennessee's lone fall scrimmage against Austin Peay in November, holding the Governors to just one hit against his seven batters faced.
Earlier this year, Perfect Game also recognized the Vols' 2014 signing class as No. 13 in the nation while Tennessee's newest class of signees, including No. 1 high school catcher in the country Chris Betts, pulled in a No. 12 national ranking. Following the early signing period this fall, Head Coach Dave Serrano and his Volunteer Baseball program have now assembled four consecutive Top-20 recruiting classes.
The Tennessee Volunteers open their 2015 regular season in Miami, Fla., facing Florida International for a three-game set (Feb. 13-15) before returning to Rocky Top for a six-game homestand. In total, the Volunteers will play 27 of their 55 regular season games this year against nine 2014 NCAA postseason participants, including College World Series squads Vanderbilt, UC Irvine and Ole Miss.
For more information about the Tennessee baseball team, visit UTSports.com/baseball and follow @Vol_Baseball on Twitter.
