Clifton Park native Mike Serbalik helped build the roster that delivered the Milwaukee Brewers’ first World Series title in the franchise’s 58-year history.
Serbalik, a Shenendehowa High School and Siena graduate, is the Brewers’ national supervisor of scouting.
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Serbalik and his wife, Donna, sat behind the Milwaukee third-base dugout on Wednesday night to watch the Brewers win the championship with a 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 5 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla.
“It’s kind of surreal at this moment,” Serbalik said Thursday by phone from St. Petersburg. “You root for it, you stress with it and, then, you wake up and you’re like, ‘Oh, you are World Series champions.’ It feels great now. It’s a long run and we rode the ups and downs. It’s nice to finish on top.”
He still lives in Clifton Park. Serbalik is also founder and owner of All Stars Academy, the popular baseball training facility in Latham.
Serbalik, 55, got on the field after the game to celebrate the Brewers’ first title since the team was founded in 1969 as the Seattle Pilots. They moved to Milwaukee a year later and reached the World Series one other time, losing in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1982.
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Serbalik estimated about half of Wednesday’s crowd of 40,489 consisted of Brewers fans, many of whom remained long after the final out. The Brewers sold out their watch party at Milwaukee’s American Family Field.
“The most amazing part of this was that entire idea of family,” Serbalik said. “Being at the stadium throughout the entire playoffs. They were tailgating days before. It’s just an amazing feeling because of the camaraderie. Everybody was there for one reason. It was fantastic.”
He planned to fly to Milwaukee to attend Friday’s championship parade.
Serbalik has worked for the Brewers for 12 years. He began with the franchise as a cross-checker, a scout who offers a second opinion on players already evaluated by an area scout. He worked his way up to his current position supervising Milwaukee’s scouts.
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Among Milwaukee’s homegrown players are 26-year-old right fielder Sal Frelick, a first-round pick out of Boston College who’s from Lexington, Mass., and 24-year-old starting pitcher Jacob Misiorowski, known as “The Miz,” a Grain Valley, Mo. native who was a second-round pick out of a Missouri junior college.
They helped the small-market Brewers sweep the two-time defending champion Dodgers in the National League Championship Series before conquering the Rays.
“If you listen to our guys talk, if you listen to how we discuss baseball, we do play it in a different way,” Serbalik said. “We play it for each other. There’s a lot of young kids on our team.”
Serbalik was a Siena infielder chosen by the Dodgers in the 37th round of the 1992 MLB Draft. He played one year of short-season Class A ball in Yakima, Wash.
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“He’s my guy,” retired Siena coach Tony Rossi texted. “Hard, Hard, Great Worker!”
Serbalik scouted for the Arizona Diamondbacks before following scouting director Ray Montgomery to the Brewers.
He said his background gives him a different perspective in evaluating talent. Serbalik cross-checked Frelick, who was a three-sport athlete in high school, and shortstop Cooper Pratt, a sixth-round pick out of a Mississippi high school.
“When you’re growing up playing in the Northeast, you only get to play so long,” Serbalik said. “The majority of us play multiple sports, so we learn how to compete. You learn how tough it is to go up against guys who play the game every day. You take those lessons and, being able to go out and do what I do now, you can get a good feel and understanding of where that particular prospect is coming from mentally and his development process.”
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Serbalik said he was glad to savor the moment Wednesday with Donna, who helps him run All-Stars Academy with other family members.
“Everything we do, the family is the foundation for us to be successful,” he said.
Despite his Brewers duties, Serbalik continues to run All Star Academy, a training ground for local players and teams. It has attracted homegrown stars such as pitcher Ian Anderson, the Shenendehowa graduate who won a 2021 World Series ring with the Atlanta Braves.
“If a machine breaks, I’m there,” Serbalik said. “If the teams are hitting, and I’m around, I’ll go in and hang out with them and talk to them about the game and do anything I can to help out.”
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This article originally published at Clifton Park’s Mike Serbalik helped build Milwaukee Brewers into World Series champions.
