Francisco Cervelli has landed on the seven-day disabled list with post-concussion symptoms for the second time in three weeks. Cervelli, whom the Pirates were monitoring leading up to first pitch Friday night, was again placed on the seven-day concussion DL before first pitch Saturday and Jacob Stallings was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis.
Cervelli returned from the disabled list only six days earlier and declared himself healthy when speaking to reporters before he was activated Sunday. The 32-year-old has started four games since, but he had only one hit in 14 at-bats and took a foul ball off the mask in each of his four games played this week.
Now, it's fair to wonder how many games Cervelli will play behind the plate the rest of the season and for the remainder of his career.
"Clint alluded to the fact [Cervelli's] been taking ground balls at first base, and obviously he's a professional at bat," Todd Tomczyk, the Pirates' director of sports medicine, said Saturday afternoon. "He's a major league baseball player. We're talking about quality of life here. We're treating human beings here. Most importantly, you're talking about Francisco Cervelli, who true and true is a Pittsburgh Pirate, let alone a human being. We're all concerned about that and any player who gets blows to the head. That is a concern and that's something there are internal discussions about."
Cervelli reported post-concussion symptoms upon arriving at the ballpark Saturday, Tomczyk said, and was examined by the Pirates' medical staff. In addition, he received a consultation from Dr. James Valeriano, a neurologist at Allegheny General Hospital. Valeriano recommended Cervelli not play the next two days, and he was placed on the disabled list since the All-Star break begins Monday.
Valeriano has not recommended that Cervelli stop catching. Cervelli has been placed on the seven-day concussion disabled list three times in the past 12 months. He was struck by a foul ball on the left side of his jaw on June 10 in Chicago, only to return three days later against the Diamondbacks in Phoenix. But he was placed on the disabled list June 22 after reporting post-concussion symptoms to the club's medical staff.
“Sometimes I can be a good actor and lie to you guys,” Cervelli joked with reporters last Saturday. “No, before, I got hit in Chicago. In St. Louis, I had a hard one. I got here against Dodgers, another one in my jaw. It accumulated. I came back in Arizona and sometimes you don’t know what’s going to happen when you get hit like that. A couple days later, I never feel better and the day that I say I can’t do it, it was like a hangover or drunk. I’ve never been drunk, so I don’t know the feeling. I had that feeling and I couldn’t perform the way I was supposed to. It was not me. I was not myself. It was dangerous. Probably for first time I said I can’t do it and that I need some time.”
Cervelli has batted .173/.327/.333 with 24 strikeouts in 26 games dating back to May 17. He leads all major league catchers in on-base percentage and ranks second in OPS behind the Marlins' J.T. Realmuto. However, he wasn't selected to his first career All-Star game.
Elias Diaz started the Pirates' first game of the doubleheader Saturday and is batting .291 with eight doubles, seven home runs and 23 RBIs in 37 starts this season. Stallings, 28, has spent more than two weeks with the Pirates this season; however, he has yet to start a game and has only one hit in six at-bats. He is batting .293 with a .738 OPS in 44 games for Triple-A Indianapolis.
Cervelli is reportedly one of five veterans the club is actively shopping around the league, as he's their highest-paid player. He's making $10.5 million this season and is under contract through next season at $11.5 million. This is the sixth reported time in his career he's been placed on the disabled list or missed time because of a concussion.