New York Yankees Move Veteran Infielder To Injured List in Flurry Of Moves

The New York Yankees moved their back-up infielder to the injured list in a flurry of moves before the second game of their doubleheader with Cleveland.

The New York Yankees made a flurry of moves in between the first and second games of their doubleheader with Cleveland on Saturday, the most significant of which was putting third baseman Jon Berti on the 10-day injured list.

Berti’s move is retroactive to Thursday and he has a left groin strain.

Along with Berti’s move, the Yankees appointed pitcher Cody Poteet their 27th player for Game 2 so he could start against the Guardians on Saturday night.

The Yankees also called up right-handed pitcher from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and signed infielder Kevin Smith to a MLB contract and selected him to the active roster.

Meanwhile, the Yankees designated left-handed pitcher Josh Maciejewski for assignment, outrighted left-handed pitcher Clayton Andrews to Triple-A and activated right-handed pitcher McKinley Moore from the 15-day injured list and optioned him to Triple-A.

The Yankees traded for Berti right before Opening Day to improve their depth at third base in the wake of injuries to DJ LeMahieu and Oswald Peraza.

Berti has played in six games and is batting .211 with an RBI. The emergence of Oswaldo Cabrera has limited his playing time, as Cabrera is batting .333 with three home runs and 10 RBI.

Berti spent most of his career with Miami before joining the Yankees and he’s versatile enough to play six different positions. He’s coming off his best season in 2023 as he slashed .294/.344/.405/.748 with seven home runs and 33 RBI in a career-high 133 games.

He stole just 16 bases last year but stole an MLB-high 41 in 2022.

With four years of service time, Berti remains under team control in 2025 before becoming a free agent.