Written by Greg Fertel
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18 June 2007
- Age: 21
- Height: 6'1"
- Weight: 170 lbs
- Acquired: Signed as an undrafted free agent in 2003 out of Venezuela
- Position: Catcher
- Bats: Right
Scouting Report: Cervelli used to be a switch hitter, but now hits exclusively on his natural right hand side. He's a line drive guy, hitting to all fields but not for a ton of power. On top of that, Cervelli has always taken a lot of walks since the very beginning of his career and makes good contact. He's an athletic former 2nd baseman who isn't particularly fast, but is a good runner for a catcher. Behind the plate, he's very agile, already adept at blocking balls and getting his feet set for a throw to 2nd. His arm is very strong and should be a strength for him down the road.
History: Cervelli spent two summers in the DSL, showing great predictive statistics despite not performing well. He finished with a 43:43 K/BB ratio in 92 games despite batting .239/.379/.277 and .216/.392/.373 in 2003 and 2004. The Yankees brought him up to the Gulf Coast League, where he hit just .190/.300/.276. He broke out at the age of 20 in the New York Penn-League last year, hitting .309/.397/.426. The change came as he abandoned switch hitting.
This Season: Showing confidence in Cervelli, the Yankees pushed him to Tampa. He's hit .301/.422/.405 so far. Cervelli has been in a protracted slump since the beginning of June, hitting .222/.404/.306. Cervelli skipped the A ball level, so this should be expected. He's played solid defense, although he's been letting a few more balls get behind him than he should. He has a 35:26 K/BB ratio in 52 games. As great as these numbers, it's easy to forget that they are being compiled in the Florida State League, which punishes hitters more than any other league in professional baseball.
Outlook and Movement: If I'm the New York Yankees, I keep Cervelli at Tampa for the rest of the year. If he gets hot again, Cervelli may force their hand and find his way to Trenton. He has already skipped a level, and his defense still needs some work. Even if he moves up early, he should start the 2008 season at Trenton and we should see him in September. It wouldn't at all surprise me to see Cervelli splitting time with Jorge Posada behind the plate to start the 2009 season.
Ranking: Originally, I had Cervelli billed for the low-teens. When I looked at my first draft of the rankings, I started thinking about him. What skills does Cervelli possess? He projects to be an above average or better defensive catcher who will hit for average, take a ton of walks, and hit for modest power. In terms of taking walks, I was really swayed by his track record. He's shown consistently the ability to post isolated patience numbers well above .120, which is excellent because he's shown the ability of hit over .300 over the past two seasons. I really think that we're looking at the next Jason Kendall right here in our farm system. Am I jumping at him because he's a catcher? Maybe. Am I jumping at him because we have so few good position players? Maybe. I think that we're all going to be very pleasantly surprised by Cervelli in the next few years.
Next up: Tyler Clippard
