By Jimmy Hyams
Tennessee pitcher Kyle Serrano said his “mindset’’ is to return to Tennessee rather than go pro.
That’s because the 10th-round pick by Houston doesn’t think the Astros will meet his asking price: $300,000.
The slotted position for a player taken in the third round is about $130,000.
“I’m not going to set a deadline (for making a decision) if the money doesn’t go up,’’ Serrano said in an exclusive interview on Sports Talk WNML radio Wednesday afternoon. “My mindset has to be, `I’m coming back to school.’’’
Serrano said it was “pretty shocking’’ to get picked by Houston considering his asking price, but he also called it an “honor.’’
Serrano said there is a “good shot’’ he remains in college and that new coach Tony Vitello has been “very welcoming and made it real clear he would love to have me back.’’
Asked if he’d like to have a banner senior season, Serrano said: “Yes, definitely. I feel like I owe the University of Tennessee more. I didn’t come to Tennessee to get drafted real high after my junior year. I came to Tennessee because I wanted to help Tennessee win and get back on the map.’’
Serrano acknowledged that the “deal with my dad’’ as Tennessee’s baseball coach “didn’t work out.’’
Coach Dave Serrano was allowed to resign recently after six unsuccessful seasons in which UT never made the NCAA Tournament.
Kyle Serrano, a right-hander with a solid fastball and nasty curve, has not lived up to his potential. Drafted out of high school and again after three years at UT, Serrano has a college career record of 8-10. He played just over half this season before leaving the team and dropping out of school for undisclosed reasons.
The rising senior has talked several times to Vitello about returning to the team. Serrano said he will be academically eligible.
He seems eager to shed a tag that apparently was an albatross throughout his Tennessee career.
“I told him (Vitello) I’m actually really looking forward to playing in college and finally being just Kyle Serrano, the baseball player, and not the coaches’ son,’’ Serrano said, “That’s been something that’s really been tough for me over the past few years. … I just want to be a baseball player. That’s what I feel like I can finally be with Coach Vitello.’’
Kyle said he’s also excited about playing with the young talent UT has assembled and that the pitching staff could be “pretty dynamic’’ and “pretty dominant’’ on the mound.
Kyle said his time away from the team and school has made him “tougher, more mature, I feel more like a man.’’
He said he’s a better pitcher now than he was when he came out of high school because he has a better feel for the strike zone and his fastball has improved. And he wants to display his talent that, to date, hasn’t surfaced much on the mound.
“There’s a really, really big part of me that wants to come back and help the program get back to where it should be and give Tennessee what Kyle Serrano was supposed to have been the whole time,’’ Kyle said.
Serrano said he felt pressure coming out of high school to produce. That pressure waned with age, but he hinted that playing for his father was not a good match.
“I took advantage of lot of situations,’’ Kyle said. “I made a lot of mistakes in my career with my dad as my coach, mistakes that wouldn’t have been allowed at a lot of other places.
“I had my dad as my coach. I wasn’t looking at him as my coach and I wasn’t respecting him as my coach a lot of times and I kind of got a little payback for it.
“I’m really looking forward to maybe possibly having the opportunity to play for coach Vitello and being held to a higher standard. And I think it’s going to work out really good if I got back to Tennessee.’’
Meanwhile, Serrano plans to pitch this summer in the Cape Cod League, and wait on a final offer from Houston.
If it’s not $300,000, he hopes to have that “banner’’ season at Tennessee.
