He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, Atlanta Braves, and Miami Marlins from 2008 through 2020.

He made his MLB debut with the Yankees in 2008, and played on the 2009 World Series championship team that beat the Philadelphia Phillies.

Cervelli is the current manager of the Italy national baseball team, which he represented in international competition during his playing career.

[2][3] After struggling to adjust to professional baseball in 2004 and 2005, Cervelli batted .309 for the Staten Island Yankees of the Class A-Short Season New York–Penn League in 2006.

In 2007, he played for the Tampa Yankees of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League, where he batted .279 with an on-base percentage of .387 and two home runs.

[7] He recorded his first major league hit, a single, on May 8, against the Baltimore Orioles, while also catching starting pitcher CC Sabathia during a complete game shutout.

[10] On June 24, 2009, Cervelli hit his first major league home run against Kris Medlen of the Atlanta Braves, breaking up a no-hitter.

On September 16, Cervelli had his first walk-off hit – a single in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Shortly after, citing another concussion Cervelli suffered while playing winter ball, the Yankees suggested he begin wearing the Rawlings S-100 protective helmet, a bulkier model made to withstand 100 mph fastballs.

[17] On April 29, 2011, the New York Yankees activated Cervelli from the disabled list,[18] and on May 8, he hit his first home run of the season, also the first grand slam of his career, in a series tiebreaker on the road against Texas.

[21] In a game against the Blue Jays on April 26, Cervelli suffered a fractured right hand after getting hit by a foul tip by outfielder Rajai Davis; he then underwent surgery the next day and was placed on the 60-day disabled list.

[24] Cervelli competed with John Ryan Murphy and Austin Romine to be the backup catcher for the Yankees in spring training in 2014.

[33][36] In 2016, his batting dropped to .264/.377/.322 (his lowest slugging percentage of his career), as he hit only one home run in 393 plate appearances, and caught 19% of attempted basestealers.

He was activated a couple of weeks later but fell back to the seven day disabled list with a recurrence of the concussion symptom.

[45] On January 9, 2020, Cervelli signed a one-year, $2 million contract with the Miami Marlins,[46] to serve as a backup catcher to Jorge Alfaro.

On December 1, 2021, Cervelli was hired by the San Diego Padres to serve as the team's catching instructor for the 2022 season.

He teamed with Hernán Pérez in an ongoing effort to call American attention to the issue, using techniques such as writing "SOS Venezuela" on his eye black.