Saturday night, the Pittsburgh Pirates lost starting catcher Francisco Cervelli to what is his sixth documented concussion since 2011. It was a fluky play. Cervelli was hit in the head by a piece of a broken bat during Joc Pederson's backswing. He remained in the game initially before pulling himself off the field before an at-bat. 

After placing Cervelli on the injured list Sunday, Pirates GM Neal Huntington told reporters he would like MLB to allow players to re-enter games after being examined for concussions. The Associated Press has the details:

"Any player that had an obvious concussion risk incident should be allowed to be removed from the game, taken off the field, taken into the locker room, assessed by a doctor, assessed by a trainer, go through an extended period of time and then re-enter the game," said Huntington. "Because right now, all of this has to happen on the field."

...

"The player has to feel pressure as he's standing there with 30,000 or 10,000 or 50,000 eyes on him," Huntington said. "He has to feel pressure to make a decision whether (he's) in or (he's) out of this game. He knows if he takes himself out and he's the catcher, there's only one other catcher, and the game becomes a fiasco if that other catcher gets hurt."

Concussions are brain injuries and they can have devastating life-altering consequences. Even with state of the art masks, catchers in particular are susceptible to concussions because they get hit with so many foul tips. Joe Mauer had to stop catching due to concussion issues. Concussions forced Mike Matheny into retirement. 

Folks will undoubtedly scoff at Huntington's suggestion because allowing players to re-enter a game is not the way baseball has been played the last century-plus, but it's not a bad idea. In theory, players would be more willing to admit to concussion symptoms and go for tests if they know they can re-enter the game later. Right now, too many guys try to tough it out.

How would it work logistically? I suppose an MLB official would need to be present at all concussion testing to ensure the team is not exploiting the system. The light-hitting backup catcher is up with the bases loaded? Oh, he's feeling a little woozy, let's send him for concussion tests quick and get a pinch-hitter in there. That sort of thing. Teams will do it.

I don't expect MLB to implement (or even seriously consider) Huntington's suggestion anytime soon, but player safety should be a priority, and concussions in particular need to be taken seriously. Anything that gets the players to speak up and go for testing has to be considered a plus given everything we know about concussions now.