The Giants are in agreement on a minor league contract with free-agent outfielder Stephen Piscotty, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The CAA client will be in big league camp this spring and would earn a $1MM base salary upon making the roster.
It’s a return to the Bay Area for the Pleasanton native, who’s spent the past five seasons in an A’s uniform. Piscotty’s first season in Oakland resulted in a terrific .267/.331/.491 batting line and 27 home runs, but he’s batted just .229/.287/.378 in four seasons since that time, tallying 891 plate appearances along the way.
Originally selected by the Cardinals with the No. 36 pick in the 2012 draft, Piscotty debuted with a flourish, hitting .282/.348/.468 with 29 long balls across 216 games in his first two big league seasons. The Cardinals signed him to a six-year, $33.5MM extension in April 2017, but the majority of the deal was played out in Oakland. Following the 2017 campaign, the A’s and Cardinals worked out a trade sending Yairo Munoz and Max Schrock to St. Louis and sending Piscotty to Oakland. The trade was largely driven by a desire to allow Piscotty to play closer to home, where he could be with his ailing mother as she battled ALS before sadly passing away in 2018.
Now back in the Bay Area, Piscotty will look to get back to his 2015-18 form and reestablish himself as a quality big league outfielder. The Giants signed both Mitch Haniger and Michael Conforto this winter, though both have had their recent careers beset by injuries. San Francisco also has Joc Pederson back after accepting his qualifying offer and will see Mike Yastrzemski reprise his role in center field. Other outfield options on the 40-man roster include Austin Slater, Luis Gonzalez and prospect Heliot Ramos.
Guys been through a lot over his career. Wish him all the best to keep playing in the bigs and find some offense again.
Not a bad bench bat option. Roster space could be an issue though?
If the right Piscotty shows up he could contribute. Low risk Zaidi signee.
Delighted for him staying in the neighborhood. As an A’s fan this pleases me. Good luck and we shall see you at the coliseum this Year
There is no validity to the rumor that Piscotty sprained his wrist while signing the contract…he actually shredded his URL in his non-throwing arm.
Seems like a legit human to have on your team. Hope he makes it back.
I’d be interested in an MLBTR piece that tries to analyze the success rate of reclamation projects like this. It’s been a while since Piscotty was a “quality big league outfielder”. Wish him well, and there’s no real downside to the Giants, but you wonder if the roster spot, should he take it, be better filled by a younger player.
Agree. I thought most of the RH pinch hit ABs would go to Flores or Davis. If just used for defense substitute than Luis Gonzales would probably lose his spot.
I’m expecting Gonzalez to be in Sacramento. He has an option. And LF seems to be Piscottys best position defensively.
I don’t see a roster spot problem. It’s a minor league deal. Unless he totally lights it up in ST, and out-performs the other OFers, he goes to Sacramento. He gets called up only in case of injury. And if he does light it up in ST then it’s a good problem to have.
I’d imagine the success rate based on percentage is low due to the high volume of former MLB players trying to make a comeback, but a former MLB player who had success is more likely to pay off than some random Quad-A guy, if that’s what you mean. I remember when the Yankees pulled Bartolo Colon out of the winter leagues after being away for a few years, figuring no way he had anything left. He did.
That type of article feels more like the sweet spot for Baseball Prospectus or Fangraphs.
I don’t follow Oakland at all. What happened to the guy? Was it mostly injuries or diminished skills?
He was always injured.
My wife always thought he was named Biscotti.
Why? Because he’s always breaking and can’t seem to stay in one piece?
Just always thought that was what the announcer was saying.
*Mortal Kombat fatality sound effect*
This guy was hit by a thrown ball three times in the same inning.
Hope for the best for the guy. Good dude. Could be a quality depth option. They could do a lot worse.
He may carve out a bench role but the battle will be with a college former teammate and Luis Gonzalez. Ramos is just not ready yet
Assuming full health, I think Gonzales has a fight on his hands irrespective of Piscottty.
Bart
Backup catcher
Wade
Davis
Estrada
Flores
Crawford
Villar
Conforto
Slater
Yaz
Haniger
Pederson
Agree, fopp. I’m gonna predict that Estrada will sometimes be the 5th outfielder and they’ll use Gonzalez’ spot to either sign a top defensive infielder (Andrus?) or use an infielder in the system (Diaz, Wisely or ….). A Crawford backup is more necessary to me anyway, and that makes Gonzalez expendable. But it adds to your list foppert. So I’m probably off base.
sarunas, I’d really be surprised if Estrada saw any time in the OF. He’ll be the everyday guy at 2B. He can back up Crawford at SS, which is better defensively than having Wilmer as the back up. And with 4 solid OFers, plus Gonzalez in Sacramento in case of injury, there’s no reason to play Estrada out there. If push came to shove, with a rash of injuries, I think they’d opt to play Wade in the OF before Estrada.
Give me a Cannoli and two Piscotty’s to go.
Leave the pun, take the Piscotty.
Well Played!
If he doesn’t mind opening the season in Sacramento, this is a nice depth signing.
He always had decent power and a great throwing arm but the thing that stands out for me when looking over his career stats is he was a high OBP guy the first 4 years of his career and then his OBP cratered the last 3 years. Maybe trying to do too much.
All signed new guys will do great then get paid somewhere else next year because of opt outs
I don’t hate that siging.