[5] While a college student, Cervenak played for the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks in 1998, an independent team, as a teammate of Aaron Heilman.

[8][9] Cervenak was signed out of the Frontier League by the New York Yankees organization, playing 38 games and batting .329 at Single-A Greensboro over the rest of the year.

[15] He batted .270 with 20 home runs and 91 RBI in 2003 when he was named to the All-Star team, and he won the minor league triple crown in 2004.

[17] Cervenak led the team in games played, at-bats, hits and runs batted in;[17] however, the Giants released him at the end of the season.

[3] He made his major league debut pinch-hitting for J. C. Romero against the Arizona Diamondbacks,[23] but was optioned back to Triple-A on July 21.

[25] His first major league hit came on August 6, a single to left field against the Florida Marlins, which also notched his first RBI, driving in third baseman Eric Bruntlett.

[26] After compiling a total of seven major league at-bats, Cervenak was optioned to the minors on August 16 to make room on the roster for Rudy Seánez.

[27] After being brought up on September 1 for roster expansion,[28] Cervenak promptly raised his average to .250 with a pinch-hit single up the middle, his second major-league hit.

On June 3, 2013, Cervenak signed a minor league contract with the Detroit Tigers and was assigned to Triple-A Toledo.