Watch Miroglio's video segment from Behind the Mask

Dominic Miroglio is certainly not the first player to come out of high school with high hopes only to endure adversity in the college game. But while his path has been anything but smooth, Miroglio has come out the other side with renewed perspective and his sights set on what he hopes is a long baseball life after USF, and an even more successful career using the tools the University has helped provide him.
 
Miroglio, who earned a bevy of accolades as a prep catcher and quarterback at Oakland's Bishop O'Dowd High School, embarked on what he envisioned would be a successful Pac-12 career at UCLA, which was coming off a College World Series title the year before. However, without a clear role with the Bruins on the horizon, Miroglio set out for greener pastures and landed on the Hilltop.
 
"At first it was heartbreaking to leave UCLA because that was always a dream of mine," said Miroglio, who appeared in 15 games for the Bruins as a freshman in 2014. "But when I moved onto USF, I saw it as a second opportunity and a new life for my baseball career. I always liked USF coming out of high school, but I put it aside because of the small school aspect, but that ended up being what I was looking for [after leaving UCLA]."
 
After starting his USF career going 7-for-13 with a home run and five RBIs in the 2015 opening weekend at Texas Tech, Miroglio knew he was starting to hit his groove. 
 
"I like to think of that as the first weekend of my career where I actually had a role," Miroglio said. "Up to that point I had seen success in my baseball career, but not in college. I was starting to waver and think, am I cut out for this, and then that weekend happened and told me that I could really do this."
 
That 2015 season proved to be the jumpstart Miroglio needed as he went on to lead the team in batting average (.340), hits (70) and RBIs (38) while starting all 53 games.
 
So when the 2016 campaign rolled around, Miroglio entered with high expectations.
 
Enter setback number two. 
 
Miroglio injured his hand sliding into second base against Hawaii in the Dons' eighth game of the 2016 season, shutting him down for the remainder of the year, a year in which Miroglio would be draft eligible for the first time as a collegian and found himself among the West Coast Conference's top draft prospects entering the season. Miroglio's reaction to the injury seemed prudent at the time – he believed he was poised for a redshirt year and a summer of rehab getting back in form for a re-do the follow season. But things quickly shifted again for Miroglio.   
 
"I put all the pro stuff to the side," Miroglio said about his injury. "Maybe a month before the end of the season, I started getting feeler texts from scouts, but still didn't think too much about that. But then Coach G brought it to my attention that he really thought I was going to get drafted so he wanted to send me to the Cape Cod League. Then it got a little stressful."
 
Miroglio faced the prospect of bouncing back from a spring in which he had received just 28 at bats and immediately producing in the nation's most competitive summer league so as to garner enough attention from Major League organizations to warrant a draft pick. That's not exactly what he saw as easing back into the swing of things.
 
"I went out to the Cape and was told one thing, but then only had six at bats my first three weeks and basically no at bats during the spring, then switched and went over to Wareham [Gatemen] and had to perform right away for the Rays to decide if they wanted to sign me or not," Miroglio explained. "I ended up not playing well at all.
 
"I definitely ride the emotional roller coaster. But I think the biggest thing that happened during that time was that I had people who could help stabilize it for me in Coach G and my family."
 
Despite an admittedly subpar experience in the Cape, Miroglio was picked up by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 16^th round, news that he found out via text from teammate Nico Giarratano, and a far higher selection than Miroglio had imagined.
 
That started the back and forth between Miroglio and the Rays in which both sides had to decide what made the most sense.
 
"Once I got hurt I set my standards pretty high in terms of what I wanted [from a pro team]," Miroglio said. "Because I knew I could come back, have another year, get my degree, try to win a conference championship. That was all so attractive to me that I was leaning toward that and I made that clear to the Rays and they drafted me knowing that. There was so much good communication between me and them that when I decided to return to USF, there was complete understanding on both sides."
 
The experience of transferring, getting injured and hearing his name called on draft day have all culminated in providing Miroglio with a healthy dose of perspective as he looks toward the 2017 MLB Draft coming up June 12-14.    
 
"I think at this point in my career I've never been more level-headed about the whole process," said Miroglio, who was also drafted in the 40^th round out of high school by the Oakland A's. "I don't see there being a lot of curveballs they can throw at me. Really my main goal is enjoying the whole thing. The season hasn't gone how I've wanted it to go or the team has wanted it to go, but it's tough cookies, what are you going to do about that. I have two more weeks to be a Don and that's truly special to me."
 
It's easy for anyone to look back and second guess the decisions that have brought them to a certain point, but despite the ups and downs for Miroglio, he knows the ride he's been on over the last few years has been well worth the experience he has gained.
 
"No regrets at all," Miroglio said. "I don't think I would have become the player I am today staying at UCLA, and that's not saying anything bad about UCLA, but USF has helped me reach my full potential. The relationships here are unlike any other school because of the tight knit group of the whole Dons baseball organization."
 
What lies ahead is hopefully another call on draft day and, further down the line, a career as business entrepreneur aided by the support of the USF network.
 
"I think the structure is unbelievable in terms of the working world and the baseball structure," said Miroglio, a business major who will be graduating in two weeks. "I think that's helped me a lot.
 
"One thing I still want to get out of it is the business side of it. One of the best things about USF is that it's in the City and the connections you can make to the City itself. I've never had a job in the business world, which scares me a little bit, but I think I'll be able to figure it out."
 
Like so much of Miroglio's collegiate career so far, he's been able to figure it out and roll with the punches. One can only assume he'll continue that trend in navigating life after USF as a lifelong member of the Dons' baseball family.