MINNEAPOLIS _ Twins first baseman Joe Mauer was placed on the 10-day disabled list on Saturday with a cervical strain that included some concussion-like symptoms.
But Mauer doesn't officially have a concussion. Twins manager Paul Molitor said Mauer showed some balance issues and sensitivity to light after coming out of Friday game when he said his neck, "locked up," on him.
The Twins took no chances, deciding to put Mauer through a Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 5 test. The SCAT-5 is a standardized concussion screening tool. Mauer tested well, but the fact he showed some symptoms has led the club to place him on the disabled list.
"I'm not a doctor, you guys all know that, so I'm trying to be careful," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "We did the SCAT 5 test postgame. I've been told it's not either a pass/fail type of test. He did well enough on that portion of it, which you know, did not allow us to go ahead and label it as being concussed or anything like that.
"I know that there are some things related to when you snap your head back that can be cause similar type of symptoms (sic), so I think we're a little bit careful on how we want to label it, but obviously they are concussion-like symptoms, but we haven't been able to confirm that."
Mauer initially hurt his neck on May 11 when he ran into foul territory along the right field line then dived for a pop up. He was able to play the next game and so on, but the neck gave him more problems on Friday, forcing him from the game against the Brewers.
The Twins are not going to take any chances with their best on-base artist. Everyone knows that the concussion he suffered in August of 2013 was career altering, forcing him to give up catching to move to first base. It also triggered three seasons in which he didn't bat above .277.
That slump ended last season when he batted .305 with a .384 on base percentage. This year, Mauer is batting .283 and his .404 on-base percentage is seventh best in the American League.
"He's gonna be home for a couple of days," Molitor said. "Just trying to see where it goes. We'll be in communication with him, I don't think there's really any more testing that we need to do here in this short term, so just kinda see how he progresses as far as some of those things that he's been dealing with."
The Twins called up outfielder Jake Cave from Class AAA Rochester to take Mauer's spot on the roster. Cave, claimed off of waivers from the Yankees during spring training, was batting .265 with one home run and 17 RBIs for the Red Wings.
