Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli was lifted prematurely from Wednesday’s Grapefruit League game against the Astros after fouling a ball off his left foot. Trainers immediately took him for an MRI to make sure that he suffered no structural damage, but the results came out inconclusive.
According to Dan Barbarisi of the Providence Journal, they plan to try again Thursday morning after some of the inflammation leaves his foot.
Cervelli, 24, batted .271 with a decent .359 on-base percentage over 317 plate appearances last season. He hit no homers and will never be a big-fly kind of player, but he has some value as a backup.
The Yanks are planning to use him behind Russell Martin to start the 2011 season. Top catching prospect Jesus Montero will probably do a little more marinating at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for a few months and then bump Cervelli to the minors once he proves ready.
