KNOXVILLE – Kyle Serrano has reportedly reached a deal to sign with the Houston Astros, bringing his Tennessee baseball career to an end.
The Astros selected Serrano, a right-handed pitcher, in the tenth round of last month’s Major League Baseball draft, but Serrano indicated he had interest in returning to Tennessee to complete his final year of eligibility.
Serrano told Sports Radio WNML in Knoxville last month that he would not sign for less than $300,000.
His deal with the Astros, signed Thursday, came with a $203,000 signing bonus.
“It feels great,” Serrano said, according to Houston’s Fox 26 sports director Mark Berman. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to be in the Astros organization. It still hasn’t hit me yet.”
Serrano is the son of Dave Serrano, who resigned in May after six years as the Tennessee coach.
Kyle Serrano left the UT program in the middle of conference play this past season for undisclosed medical reasons. His father’s resignation cast further doubt that he would return to Tennessee to complete an up-and-down, injury-riddled career.
But Kyle Serrano said there was “a really big part of him” that wanted to come back to Tennessee as he began negotiations with the Astros.
New Tennessee coach Tony Vitello told Sports Radio WNML last week that Kyle Serrano had been, “very respectful with us in communicating what his thoughts are.”
Dave Serrano recently accepted a position as pitching coach at West Virginia University.