RADIO
The trade of Stephen Piscotty to the A’s is one of the feel-good stories of the offseason, as the St. Louis Cardinals front office moved the Northern California native to the A’s so Piscotty could be closer to his ailing mother.
It was a rough year both on and off the field for the former prized prospect. Piscotty struggled at the plate and even spent some time back in the minors, souring many a fantasy owner on his once-great potential.
With a new team, another year of experience, and some sense of relief due to his return home, is this enough to put Piscotty back on the radar in a standard, 12-team mixed league on draft day?
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A Meaningful Homecoming
Piscotty, a 26-year-old former first-round pick in the 2012 amateur draft from Stanford University, hit a modest .268 with 38 home runs and 155 runs scored in 1,156 at-bats with the Cardinals. In his only full season with the club in 2016, Piscotty hit a respectable .273, with 22 home runs and 58 RBI.
The Cardinals received minor league prospects Yairo Munoz and Max Schrock in return for Piscotty, not exactly a haul for a former top pick who was selected with a compensation pick from the Angels as part of Albert Pujols signing with Los Angeles. But in a rare display of doing the right thing in the face of possibly coming out on the short end of the deal, John Mozeliak and Mike Girsch of the St. Louis front office sent Piscotty home to be closer to his mother, Gretchen.
From a fantasy perspective, Piscotty has yet to live up to his potential that he displayed as a member of the Stanford Cardinal. He lacks the speed to be a 20/20 outfield threat, and his .438 career slugging percentage does not suggest that he is on the precipice of a breakout. Finding an outfielder with the potential to hit 20 home runs and drive in 60 runs is not a difficult thing to do in most standard leagues, and Pistcotty’s .268 career batting average is not enough to compensate for his lack of speed and run scoring.
However, it is important to remember that Piscotty is only 26 years old, presumably with his best years ahead of him. His career batted ball rates of 50% for medium contact and 33% for hard are nearly identical to Matt Holiday and Hunter Pence, two players who at times in their respective careers garnered significant fantasy value. Piscotty lacks the power production that Holiday possessed and he will not be able to duplicate the speed and power combination Pence provided in his early years. But it is not out of the question for Piscotty to grow into a 75/25/75/280 player with the Athletics as he enters the prime years of his career.
The change in ballparks from Busch Stadium in St. Louis to the Oakland Alameda Coliseum is a near wash with regards to historical offensive numbers. The two parks rank 22nd and 23rd out of 30 MLB parks regarding offensive production according to a 2016 report by Tristian H. Cockroft of ESPN.com. Both parks are outdoor stadiums on natural grass with nearly identical dimensions, and each stadium is less than 500 feet above sea level.
The starting lineup and batting order of the A’s will not be determined until the end of spring training. Assuming that Piscotty is the starting right fielder, he will likely bat either fifth, sixth, or seventh in the lineup behind power hitting OF/DH Khris Davis and Matt Olson. Piscotty has yet to show an above average ability to get on base, as evident to his career .346 on-base percentage, making the probability of him hitting out of the two spot relatively low.
As the No. 81 outfielder on our consensus preseason MLB ranks, our expectation of Piscotty is somewhat low this season based on the uncertainty of where he will hit in the Oakland batting order and the number of at-bats he will receive from manager Bob Melvin. It is possible that he flourishes in Oakland and evolves into a viable No. 3 outfielder in mix leagues. However, he could also struggle moving to a new team in the American League and have little to no value.
Based on these factors, owners in mixed leagues should view Piscotty as someone to avoid in drafts, but his usage and production should be monitored over the first few weeks of the season. Owners in deep AL-only leagues should consider a late flyer on him to see if he blossoms into a fantasy-worthy asset.
