Iron Man – Serruto Keeps Shouldering the Catching Load
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Peter Serruto had seen enough. It was time to switch from Indiana catcher to player-coach.
Talented freshman pitcher Connor Foley was struggling to find the plate against Purdue at Bart Kaufman Field.
Nerves?
Excitement?
Adrenaline?
They were all there on this Mother’s Day opportunity. Foley couldn’t control a fastball that reached 96 mph or a breaking ball that buckled knees. He had walked his first batter and had just thrown a ball to start his second. IU had a commanding eighth-inning 10-2 lead, but college baseball is known for its offense, and the Boilers had scored 11 runs against the Hoosiers on Friday night.
With Big Ten title hopes and a series sweep at stake, this was no time to mess around.
Serruto called time out to talk to Foley. A few words, a pat on the back, and the 6-foot-5, 225-pound Foley was dialed in. He struck out the next two batters, then forced a weak ground out to second base to end the inning. He struck out two more in the ninth as the Hoosiers wrapped up the sweep.
Once again, Serruto had shown his Hoosier value.
“You always have to be there for the pitcher,” Serruto says. “You have to be an extra coach on the field. You have to know where everybody is at all times and where the ball needs to go.”
With the Hoosiers (39-14, 15-6 B1G) surging toward a possible conference title, Serruto has become a Cream ‘n Crimson iron man. Despite playing baseball’s most grueling position, he almost never takes a break. With veteran catcher Matthew Ellis out indefinitely with an injury and heralded freshman catcher AJ Shepherd sidelined all season with an injury, Serruto has gone from rotational starter to mainstay with the confidence you’d expect from a college transfer.
“He’s been incredible,” head coach Jeff Mercer says. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a kid shoulder the load like he has.”
Credit toughness honed by a wrestling background. Serruto lettered one year in wrestling before focusing on baseball and football (he was a standout quarterback who left as New Jersey’s Millburn High School’s all-time passing leader). His father, Mark, lettered in wrestling and baseball at the University of Virginia. Two uncles lettered in wrestling at the University of Maryland. A cousin wrestled. A brother wrestled.
“I come from a wrestling family,” Serruto says. “It was the primary sport.
“It instills so much toughness and discipline in how you go about your day. It creates so much mental toughness. It carries over to the other sports.”
Catching punishes from the squatting, pitches blocked and the occasional home-plate collision. Wear and tear is just as much mental as physical.
“To be a catcher,” Serruto says, “you have to be so mentally tough to persevere through the physical pain, getting banged up every day and giving it your best shot.
“Baseball is such a mental game. You have to overcome so much failure. You fail 70 percent of the time and that’s considered successful. Having a family with a wrestling background helps.”
IU lists six catchers on the roster, including Brock Tibbitts, who has played first base the past two seasons. Ellis played 25 games, hitting .252 with four home runs and 20 runs batted in, before getting hurt. Shepard, along with a pair of transfers, Riley Langerman and Austin Bode, round out the corps.
Serruto has played outstanding defense (just one error), handled a young pitching staff and still managed to hit a career-best .263 with two home runs and 14 RBI, a huge jump from last season’s numbers of .139, one and six.
“I can’t be more impressed,” Mercer says. “He’s changed the course of the season. AJ Shepard, who is a gifted player, goes down before the season. Then Ellis goes down. It’s squarely on Peter’s shoulders to keep Tibbitts at first base. He has to carry the load, and he has. It couldn’t happen to a better kid.”
Serruto credits hard work for his improved offense. He widened his batting stance and eliminated a leg kick to reduce head movement.
“I got with the coaches and simplified some of my movements. I prioritize hitting fastballs. Once you hit fastballs, you can adjust to breaking balls. That mindset has helped me. Being able to cover the whole plate, working out to in, I’m on more pitches and my contact rate is higher.”
Contact included a home run against Purdue.
“It was a fastball,” Serruto says. “My goal is to get to first base every time. Every home run I’ve hit, they’ve kind of happened. I’ve never tried to hit one. I kind of ran into that fastball.
“My job is to get to first base and move runners. When I get a leverage fastball, it’s a good pitch to drive, and I got that one.”
Try to steal on Serruto at your own risk. Purdue centerfielder Couper Cornblum tried it late in Friday night’s 26-11 IU victory. Before the attempt, he was 24-for-26 on the season. Afterward, he was 24-for-27.
Overall, Serruto has thrown out 12 of 31 runners, including another during Tuesday night’s 6-2 win over Evansville.
“It’s anticipation,” Serruto says. “You have to have that hunter mentality. Expect when that runner is going to go, when he’s going to test you.
“You have to be in a position to move your body before the ball is at home plate. Once you get the ball, fire it to second base as fast as you can.”
With IU leading by double digits, a steal attempt by Cornblum seemed, well, unlikely.
“I was surprised given the score,” Serruto says. “Me and (pitcher Ben Seiler) were smiling at each other as the ball was in the air. It was like, what’s going on? This guy is testing me now? I just had to make a strong throw. (Second baseman Tyler Cerny) made a great tag.”
This reflects Serruto’s defense-first approach.
“As a catcher, you have to have that mindset,” he says. “Defense, handling the pitching staff and making sure the right pitches are called are the priority. The offensive side is a bonus.”
Serruto left Rutgers after three seasons looking for opportunity. He’d played solid defense as a Scarlet Knight, but never hit better than .256 or drove in more than 13 runs.
Plus, the Scarlet Knights never finished better than eighth in the Big Ten while he was there. IU clinched the 2019 conference title by beating Rutgers, and that left a big impression.
“I was familiar with Indiana and how Coach Mercer’s programs have been run,” Serruto says. “I saw them dogpile after winning the title in 2019, and thought, That looks like a well-run program. I saw how successful they were. I wanted to be part of it and play for Coach Mercer.”
IU needed catchers and used the transfer portal to bring in Serruto and Ellis.
“It was a quick process,” Serruto says.
And if success came less quickly than he had hoped, it has come.
“He told us he was capable of this,” Mercer says. “He’s a confident kid. He was very adamant he could do it.
“Last year, when he struggled offensively, he was adamant he was capable of being a more productive offensive player. He had to catch his footing a little bit. We do things a little different offensively. A guy transfers in and has to get comfortable.
“You have to build a trusting relationship. He’s bought into that. Invested in that. He’s done a terrific job. His throwing has improved tremendously. His offensive work has improved tremendously. His receiving has gotten a lot better. He’s better with low strikes.”
IU is tied with Maryland (15-6) atop the Big Ten standings entering this week’s final three-game conference series. It plays at Michigan State (9-11 in the Big Ten) starting Thursday. The Terrapins are at Penn State (6-14).
Serruto can’t wait.
“This is most fun ever had playing since high school, when we won a couple of (New Jersey) state championships,” he says. “I come to field every day with a smile on my face.
“I love working with this team and this coaching staff. They create such a positive environment. They instill so much confidence in us every day. When you come to the field with that attitude, you can’t be stopped by anybody.”