Kenny Serwa wants to bring his knuckleball to Comerica Park — a mission that could be drawing closer

Kenny Serwa got a late start compared with most MLB pitching prospects. But a right-hander who throws an unconventional pitch is making the most of an equally atypical path with the Tigers.

Not only because they lost, 17-0, was it a miserable night last Friday for the Somerset Patriots, a New Jersey-based Double-A Yankees partner.

Apart from the football score by which Erie won at UPMC Park, the Patriots had to deal with Tigers prospect Kenny Serwa’s knuckleball.

Ouch.

Seven innings. Four hits — all singles. One walk. Five strikeouts.

Serwa’s knuckling had the Patriots buckling.

“The last month and-a-half, two months, he’s been outstanding,” Erie manager Tony Cappuccilli said Wednesday, a few hours before the playoff-bound SeaWolves were to play an evening game at Reading.

“A big part is that he’s been throwing his knuckleball for strikes and upping his knuckleball usage. He’s been getting some chase, and a lot of soft contact and a good ground-ball rate (50.4% in 2026).”

Those acquainted with Serwa, 29, who is a right-hander, know of his background. It’s novel.

He pitched for four different colleges from 2016-22, with COVID disruptions responsible for some of those relocations. His list of alma maters: St. Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Ind; Southern Illinois-Edwardsville; University of Central Florida; Dayton University.

He has a degree in integrated biology, as well as a graduate certificate in tourism, marketing and management, and another in strategic public relations.

But it was the knuckler that 20 months got him his first MLB contract, with the Tigers. This was after he had been pitching for Independent pro teams, as well as working with Tread Athletics, in Charlotte, N.C., where he threw the fastest knuckleball ever recorded: 88 mph.

The Tigers had been paying attention. They signed him.

He pitched well last season at High-A West Michigan (2.75 ERA, 1.00 WHIP) and was fine after moving to Erie (3.75, 1.38). He was not good during four games in the Arizona Fall League, walking 10 in 13.1 innings, even as he whiffed 11.

This year, all with Erie, has been reasonably steady: 24 games (all starts), 3.95 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 111.2 innings, 99 hits, 53 walks, 83 strikeouts.

It has been Serwa’s second half, as Cappccilli mentioned, that has been more the story: 10 starts, 57.1 innings, 2.35 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, with 24 walks and 39 strikeouts.