For the heirs of yesterday, like Cito Culver, this isn’t how the Yankees were supposed to be saved.

The youth movement overtaking The Bronx, with Gary Sanchez, Greg Bird and Aaron Judge mashing at Yankee Stadium and Gleyber Torres inching his way to center stage at Double-A, represents the reinforcements the Yankees have awaited for the better part of a decade. But many others have hit landmines on their way through the Yankees system.

Since 2009, the Yankees have drafted nine players in the first round. Judge, a 2013 choice, appears to be the real deal — and a glaring exception to the rule.

The other eight selections have appeared in a combined 17 major league games — all by Slade Heathcott. Injury has devastated all three of the pitchers they’ve taken in that span: Ty Hensley underwent two Tommy John surgeries before the Rays claimed him in the Rule 5 draft; Ian Clarkin missed all of 2015 with elbow inflammation then much of 2016 following knee surgery; and James Kaprielian became the latest Tommy John victim this week.

Heathcott, an outfielder grabbed in 2009, did not develop as hoped and was waived last year. Third baseman Eric Jagielo (2013) lagged on his way through the system and was included in the Aroldis Chapman trade. Kyle Holder (2015), a shortstop, shows distant promise at High-A.

Then there’s Culver, taken out of high school in Rochester with the No. 32 overall pick in 2010, a potential eventual successor to Derek Jeter with his vacuum glove, cannon arm and developing bat. Seven years later, the defensive wizard who has dreamed of being “the shortstop of the New York Yankees since I was 3 years old” is fighting for playing time with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and is no longer an everyday player. The more realistic future of the Yankees — players such as Tyler Wade, who’s getting the majority of time at shortstop — has left Culver behind.

“There’s been moments of frustration, but never to the point of I don’t want to play this game anymore,” Culver, 24, said this week over the phone. “It’s never been an option in my head.”

For a few years, it appeared Culver may not have had a choice. He ascended very slowly through the Yankees farm system, his glove a keeper and his bat seemingly a lost cause. He bottomed out in 2015, when he hit .199 in 106 games with Double-A Trenton. A favorite within the organization, though, Culver reached Triple-A, where he eventually stuck the next season after tweaking his swing and batting .263 in 24 games.

Now he’s a step and a lifetime from the team he grew up rooting for, but no longer has a position or everyday playing time. Triple-A manager Al Pedrique said Culver would play about four times a week, with pitcher the only spot off-limits.

“This year, his role is as a utility player,” Pedrique said. “We’ll move him around the infield at short, second, first and third. Outfield. He can be an emergency catcher.”

Pedrique, asked if he could see Culver as a Yankee, spoke in generalities about all the minor leaguers having a shot. But Culver, sounding upbeat, has taken his new role with hope and without complaint.

“I’ve struggled off the field more than I struggled on the field in my life,” Culver said. “Baseball’s never gotten to the point where it’s like, I want to go home, I don’t want to do this anymore.”

If Culver does not appear bowled over by a flagging dream, consider his past. In 2008, his father, Christopher, set the family’s house ablaze in a futile effort to kill his estranged wife, which Cito, then a high school sophomore, witnessed.

His father, later diagnosed as bipolar, was sentenced to seven years and eight months in Attica Correctional Facility. He was released in August, Cito said. The two haven’t talked, and didn’t speak when he was in prison.

“I don’t know. Still up in the air,” said Culver, taking a breath, when asked if he would talk to his father again. “I’m trying to focus on this season, on baseball right now. That’s my thing right now, just focusing on my game.”

Culver still sees a future in pinstripes. He was a minor league free agent after last season. The team wanted him back, and he accepted. Last season’s trades buoyed a farm system and moved its incumbents a step down. The early-April patch of snow stubbornly lingers.

“The Yankees are all I’ve ever known,” Culver said. “When they see I’m ready, I’ll get my chance.”