Last week a story of the Miami New Times about an allegedly new MLB doping scandal which includes several big names shook the baseball community. Now it appears it has reached European Baseball. A second batch of names, which are connected to the investigated Biogenesis clinic, surfaced in a report by Tim Brown and Jeff Passan on Yahoo! Sports. One of them is Team Italy’s World Baseball Classic catcher Francisco Cervelli. The player of the New York Yankees responded immediately via Twitter denying all allegations.
“Following my foot injury in March 2011, I consulted with a number of experts, including Biogenesis clinic, for legal ways to aid my rehab and recovery,” Cervelli said in a statement. “I purchased supplements that I am certain were not prohibited by MLB.”
Cervelli who has a legitimate shot of seeing regular playing time with the Yankees this year played for Italy in the 2009 World Baseball Classic and is also on the roster of this year’s event.