Ryan Garcia
Last night the Yankees got one of their best early performances of the Minor League season when RHP Luis Serna (no. 27 on ESM’s top 30 NYY prospects) delivered seven innings of shutout baseball.
He struck out 10 batters in his High-A debut with the Hudson Valley Renegades, as the Mexican-born hurler was able to carve through Wilmington’s offense with ease.
Displaying a very unique changeup with solid fastball velocity, his poise and command were on-point as he flashed the upside he has when healthy.
After years of injuries and hurdles, Serna looks ready to have a big season and make some serious noise inside the Yankees’ farm system.
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Why the Yankees Could Have Something Special in Luis Serna
An electric debut at the High-A level for Luis Serna flew under the radar after a stinging defeat against the Athletics, but he’s a pitching prospect that fans should pay attention to.
Standing at 5’11, he’s a smaller pitcher who is able to get the most out of his frame, sitting around 93-94 MPH on his fastball which has ride and lateral movement.
He moves the ball very well due to an excellent feel for spin, as his repertoire is headlined by a disgusting changeup that has some similarities to Devin Williams’ Airbender
It doesn’t quite have the label of an Airbender, but both of these pitches have abnormally high spin rates with tons of movement, categorizing them more as screwballs than regular changeups.
To go with a solid fastball and nasty changeup, Luis Serna has a tight bullet slider and a big looping curveball, rounding out his arsenal well and giving him a fairly nasty mix.
He displayed this excellent repertoire at the tail-end of the 2025 season where he returned from the Injured List with some velocity gains and that same signature offspeed pitch.
This was the basis for his inclusion as the no. 27 prospect in our Yankees’ 2026 pre-season ranking, an unusual pick compared to other outlets that produce prospect rankings.
I have some concerns about his profile, the first being that changeups perform much better at the Minor League level so he’ll have to make the adjustments ahead of time to make sure he’s not too reliant on that pitch.
Better hitters who have seen more changeups will adjust and expose an overreliance on that pitch, and I hope the emergence of his bullet slider helps alleviate my concerns down the road.
Command could be a problem due to how much his pitches move and the walk rates he’s had at the Minor League level which are average-at-best.
Luis Serna being just 21 years old does provide a nice window to project some improvements whether its tinkering with his fastball shapes or adding a breaking ball with more lateral movement.
I’m excited to see what this season looks like for him, and if this first start is a glimpse at what 2026 will look like for him, he could end up being a slamdunk top 10 prospect in the Yankees’ system.
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