Miguel Serna; Jersey Shore's Next Big Thing

With the bandbox that is the Ballpark at the Shore, hitters will most always take center stage on the D-Bags roster.  With Mikey Bryant on his last leg and Dave Dodd turning 33 this year we look towards a 26 year old and former 1st round pick who burst onto the national scene last season.

Background

The Florida born, Canadian educated Serna as the 21st overall pick out of Madawaska Valley High School In Barry's Bay, Ontario in the 2020 1st year player draft.  A 2-year starter in HS, he had his best season as a Junior where he hit .394/.518/.651 with 6 HR and 21 RBI.  Serna opted to sign for $3.85M, well above slot, to skip college and join the D-Bags organization.  Serna would report to A ball in Manhattan where he would struggle mightily all year long.  In 66 games his slash line looked like .152/.184/.187 with 102 strike outs and only 35 hits in 230 AB.  Even with his struggles, he was still named the 11th best prospect in baseball by the OSA going into the 2021 season.

Improvement

Serna's 2021 season was much improved but the 20 year old still showed glaring holes in his game.  While he would raise his triple slash to .268/.334/.389, he would strike out 207 times in 634 AB, which would be 2nd in league history for K's in a season trailing the leader by a single K.  Serna would only hit 7 HR all season, but what encouraged scouts were the 42 doubles he hit.  Scouts hoped that those doubles would some day turn to HR, so they stayed optimistic.  Serna would return to Manhatten as a 21 year old for 2022 season.  Playing in 152 games, he would improve again, this time bringing his average up to .300 and his slugging up to .435.  He would still strikeout 182 times but take more walks, hit more homers as he was ranked the 16th best prospect in baseball.  After only 16 games in 2023, Serna would suffer a broken kneecap at a collision at homeplate that would cost him the entire of the season.

Breakout

2024 would be the year for Serna that he finally put things together.  He would go to Manhattan for the 4th time, but only stay for 16 games before being called up to AA Gainesville.  Miguel would only spend just over a month in his home state as he crushed AA pitching to the tune of .384/.452/.500 with 2 HR and 17 RBI in 28 games.  He would be bumped up to AAA Tuscaloosa where his bat would continue to turn heads.  It was here where Serna finally found his power stroke.  In 127 games for the Trout Slayers he would smash a career high of 19 HR and 73 RBI on his way to 2.6 WAR.  He would have probably gotten a cup of coffee in the bigs but was blocked by Gerardo Escobedo who was on his way to a 3.0 WAR season for Jersey.

Escobedo was still the D-Bags in 2025 and was the Opening Day starter at 3B.  Serna would spend the first 45 games in AAA where he hit .319 to add to his 9 HR and 40 RBI.  A fractured foot suffered by Escobedo meant that Serna would finally get his shot in the bigs.  He would struggle as rookie, but would go on to start 96 games at the hot corner where he would amass 0.5 WAR.  Serna would even start all 7 games for Jersey Shore in the playoffs where they eventually swept out by rival Greenville in the Divisional Round of the CL Playoffs.

Stardom

With Escobedo leaving as a free agent, Serna was the heir apparent to the 3B and was only 1 of 2 players who played there during Spring Training.  After a slow start to the season, Miguel would turn it in the dog days of summer.  He would eventually start 158 games for the D-Bags and have a monster season offensively.  His 38 home runs would only trail the 44 of CL MVP Dave Dodd meanwhile finished 3rd on the team in RBI with 109 and WAR with 4.2 as well leading the team in SB with 27.  Jersey Shore would win the division in a playoff game and eventually lose the World Series in 7 games to the Irvine Green Gang.  Despite missing the All-Star game due to his breakout coming later in the season, Serna was award with the 2026 Platinum Stick for 3B in the CL.

Serna hasn't slowed in 2027 as he is the offensively leader on May 10th and on pace to hit 59 HR, drive in 135 runs and 10.4 WAR.  At 26 years old, we are probably looking at the future star and building block of this Jersey franchise.  Before the season Jersey locked up Serna to a 9 year deal so he isn't going anywhere soon so get use to seeing #18 rounding the basepaths for the D-Bags.

GO D-BAGS

Superstar in the Making?;Meet Rookie Ricardo Berroa

Not really too surprising but in his 2+ months in the big leagues, rookie Ricardo Berroa is excelling and adding another dangerous bat into an already potent offense in Jersey Shore.  He was called up June 21st to play mainly against right handed pitching and hasn't looked back since.  He started his career with a 16 game hit streak and through 49 games played and 194 plate appearances, Berroa has a line of .324/.387/.497 to go along with 13 doubles, 4 triples, 3 home runs and 6 stolen bases.  

Berroa was discovered by scouts early in the 2016 season in Cuba and began his ascent through the Jersey Shore farm system.  He came out of the gates a raw but talented 19 year old and was named the #22 prospect in all the BSA by the OSA scouting department prior to the 2017 season.  That season he would go on to have a monster season in A ball putting up a 5.9 WAR and rightfully earned promotion to AA the following year.

As a 21 year old in AA, he would top his monster year in A ball by posting a 6.1 WAR to go with his .562 slugging percentage and 49 doubles.  Jersey knew they had something special in Berroa.  He was kept in AA the first month and a half of the 2019 season before being promoted to AAA Tuscaloosa.  He would struggle adjusting to AAA pitching at first, but ended the 2019 season with a .273/.398/.528 in 66 games.  

With a crowded outfield in Jersey Shore which included Vancini, Dodd, Torres, and Ibarra, Jersey chose not to invite Berroa to spring training and named him the starting LF in Tuscaloosa.  The first 2.5 months of this season showed Jersey management they had no choice but to promote him.  Berroa was hitting a career high .351 to go with an outstanding .466 on base percentage and an OPS of 1.207 when he got the call to the big league club.  It was also the first time in his career where his walks would out number his strikeouts. 

Combined with Jersey's 24 year old rookie starting 1B Tadahisa Kisuki and their trio of young starting pitchers in Jose Ramos, Sergio Martinez and Ramon Ruiz the future is bright for the D-Bags. Though it seems like he has been on the team forever as well, Dave Dodd is just 26 and on pace for another 5.5+ WAR season.  So while the days of the solid core of Bryant/Perez/Morrow/Ellis get older this new group of core players look to help Jersey remain competitive well beyond the foreseeable future and hopefully for the next decade.

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Jersey Shore Selects Prep Star Serna 21st Overall

With the 21st pick in the 2020 amateur draft the Jersey Shore D-Bags selected 19 year old Miguel Serna out of Madawaska Valley High School from the Canadian Province of Ontario.  Though Serna only saw 65 games in his HS career, he amassed a stat line of .382/.494/.593, while hitting 9 HR in his 199 AB.  Though scouts have his talents as very raw, they believe his potentials could top out at plus contact, power and eye to go along with his plus-plus speed.  While he is listed as a 3B, many believe that his future could be at 2B given his fielding talents.

Jersey was given the 21st pick as compensation for not signing their last year 1st round pick, prep star Max Jones, who attended the Univeristy of Miami this year and is draft eligible.  By not signing Jones and his lofty contract demands, Jersey sits with the 21st and 32nd picks in the first round and a real chance to add great talent in what is turning out to be one of the deepest drafts the BSA has seen in a long time.

Serna is the 3rd infielder off the board after Irvine took SS Murphy and Los Cabos snagged college 2nd baseman Gonzalez one pick ahead of Jersey.  Serna is the 11th bat off the board as the first 22 picks were split evenly between arms and bats.  This marks the 2nd year in a row that Jersey selected a prep player and the first time since 2015 that they selected an infield bat with their 1st overall pick.  In 2015 they selected current starting 3B Fabrice Brodeur with the 25th overall pick.

Serna will likely be sent to Single A Manhatten after he signs and likely take his bumps with professional pitching but hopefully add some pop to a lineup who only has one player with over 5 HR and a team that sits with a 33-45 record.  It will yet to be seen what Jersey will do with their 2nd pick in the first round.  According to GM Swain, there is a lot of top talent on their draft list and will be a tough decision on who to select with that pick.  We will see soon enough who else will be joining the organization

GO D-BAGS

Jersey Shore 2017 Amatuer Draft

July 1st rolled around in this 2017 season and took it's eyes off of the D-Bags league best record and turned to the league's first year player draft, or know as the Rule IV draft. For the first time in a few years Jersey would have no supplemental picks and would have 10 players in 10 rounds of the draft.  Much like last year Jersey drafted a heavy pitching class with 4 of their 5 picks being young arms to add to their farm system.

Round 1
SP Roland Martin - Temiskaming District Secondary School - With the 32nd overall pick the D-Bags were 
ecstatic when Martin fell to them. GM Josh Swain said afterwards they had him in their overall Top 10 and finding a quality High School arm that late was a great start for the ballclub.  Martin pitched 3 seasons at TDSS compiling just a 9-4 record in 25 starts, striking out 185 batters in 149 IP, leaving school with a 4.09 ERA. The D-Bags seem to be more excited about the under the surface statistics.  The 2.37 FIP he carried for his 3 year career and the 11.12 K/9 to go along with the 4.87 K/BB.  Jersey's plan is to help him establish an "out" pitch and continue to add to the pristine control he has shown in High School.  When and if he is signed, he will report to A ball Manhattan.

Round 2
CL John Charles - University of Minnesota - 102nd overall pick, 2nd round.  The Bags again went pitching but this time went the relief route.  Charles had originally been drafted by the Boston Rebels in 2014 draft but they failed to sign him and continued on to UMN to play 3 years. Over the past 3 years he has been one
of the best closers in the college ranks going 6-2 with 41 saves.  He struck out an astonishing 131 batters in just 70 IP while carrying a 2.19 ERA and a 0.76 WHIP. This isn't the first time Jersey has drafted out of the UMN.  In 2015 they slected Fabrice Brodeur with their first round pick.  Brodeur currently is playing for Jersey's AAA affiliate in Tuscaloosa.

Round 3
1B Antonio Enriquez - Masconomet High School - 150th overall, Round 3.  Jersey picked their only bat in the first 5 rounds going with switch hitting 1B Enriquez. not your prototypical 1B as he lacks power, but he
does have above average contact and rarely strikes out.  He is more of a station to station type runner with slow speed and lacks much defense but his ability to get on base doesn't go over looked.  In his 4 year HS career he hit .427, had an OBP of .496 and a career OPS of 1.115.  He only amassed 12 HR and 26 2B in 344 AB, but had a better than 1:1 K/BB ratio as well.  It will be interesting to see how he adapts to pitching at higher levels.



Round 4
SP Matt McGinnity - John Jay High School - 187th Overall, Round 4.  Picking in the 4th round, Jersey selected their 2nd HS starter of the draft in McGinnity from Waterville, New York. McGinnity here is an interesting pick seeing his track record over his career and a big let down his final season.  Most teams had
him slated as a MR, but the reason he slipped into the 4th could be because of the changeup he has tried to evolve over the past year.  He throws an above average cutter and slider while hitting the mid-90's.  Even if he doesn't succeed into becoming a professional starter, he may have a future as a reliever.


Round 5
SP Antonio Pereira - University of Cincinnati - 215th overall, Round 5.  Jersey seemed to get a steal here in Round 5 and we are surprised both of their round 3 and 4 picks were taken over Pereira.  He was the ace
of the Bearcats staff last year going 4-2, having a crazy 0.92 ERA, 0.77 WHIP, giving up 1 HR ans striking out 65 batters in 58.2 IP.  Control isn't his best attribute, but improved on it greatly from junior to senior season.  With 3 decent pitchers and a ground-ball percentage of 74%, he certainly has a chance of reaching the next level if he can improve on his control. 

Even in a very deep draft once you get to the bottom the players tend to fall off.  That's what happened in this draft between rounds 6-10.  

Round 6 - RF Miguel Vallejo - 3rd time he has been drafted.  24 year with little hitting upside. Plays above average defense and has elite speed.
Round 7 - LF Steve Jennings - Speedy OF out of Georgia Tech.  Has tools to be elite defender.  Hit .354 in his senior season, if he improves he could pan out to be a 4th OF type.
Round 8 - RF Josh Boyer - 25 year old. At one point he could have made a decent player, but being drafted 3 other times besides this one and not playing over 3 years has diminished his skills.
Round 9 - Util Todd Ross - 25 year old.  Another 4th time draftee, first time out of the 3rd round.  Plays all IF positions well, elite speed, not much with the bat.  Could stick on for awhile as a defensive specialist.
Round 10 - 1B George Young - 25 year old.  A trend of taking older draftees late in the draft.  Previously drafted by LA, POC and JAK.  Doesn't have much upside in any area besides a slick glove at 1B.

Well there's the class of folks.  A top heavy young class of high school players and a late half of players who should be in AAA right now but never will get a chance. We will see how the first 1-2 round picks go as Jersey has had an excellent track record of drafting BSA quality talent in those rounds.

GO D-BAGS