Stephen Piscotty

Stephen Edward Piscotty (born January 14, 1991) is an American former professional baseball right fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals and Oakland Athletics from 2015 to 2022.

Piscotty played college baseball for Stanford and was the Cardinals' first-round selection in the 2012 MLB draft. He made his major league debut on July 21, 2015, and was the Cardinals' organization Player of the Year that season. The Cardinals traded Piscotty to the Athletics after the 2017 season.

Stephen Piscotty is the eldest of three sons of Michael and Gretchen Piscotty. He has two younger brothers, named Austin and Nicholas. Born in Pleasanton, California, he began attending college baseball games of the Stanford Cardinal of Stanford University with his uncle for his birthday when he was young. He grew up a fan of the Oakland Athletics. Piscotty attended Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton, where he played for the school's baseball team as a pitcher and a shortstop. In 2009, his senior year, he was named the most valuable player of the East Bay Athletic League.

The Los Angeles Dodgers selected Piscotty in the 45th round of the 2009 Major League Baseball draft but he opted not to sign. He enrolled at Stanford to play college baseball for the Cardinal as a third baseman, pitcher, and an outfielder. In 2011, Piscotty was named to the All-Pacific-10 Conference first team. Piscotty also played collegiate summer baseball for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox in 2011 and was the Cape Cod League batting champion with a .349 batting average.

Piscotty was named a preseason All-American prior to the 2012 season. That year, he batted .329, led the Cardinal with 30 walks and 56 runs batted in (RBIs) (along with hitting five home runs), and was named All-Pac-12 in 2012. As a pitcher, Piscotty posted a 5–2 won–lost record with a 2.57 earned run average in 2012. During his Stanford career, he batted .340 with 124 runs, 132 RBIs, 43 doubles, 12 home runs and 62 walks in 172 games.

The St. Louis Cardinals selected Piscotty in the first round, with the 36th overall selection, of the 2012 Major League Baseball draft and signed him on June 16 with a $1.4 million bonus. After playing in the infield for the Quad Cities River Bandits of the Single–A Midwest League in 2012, the Cardinals moved him to the outfield before the 2013 season. His first season showed mixed results as he batted .295 with a .376 on-base percentage, .448 slugging percentage, four home runs, 18 doubles and 27 RBIs, but committed 22 errors in just 36 games at third base. The Cardinals assigned Piscotty to the Palm Beach Cardinals of the High–A Florida State League (FSL) in 2013, where he was selected as an All-Star.

After batting .295 with 15 home runs in 112 games for Palm Beach and the Springfield Cardinals of the Double–A Texas League in 2013, the Cardinals assigned Piscotty to the Arizona Fall League (AFL) to play for the Salt River Rafters. Piscotty spent the 2014 season with the Memphis Redbirds of the Triple–A Pacific Coast League, and opened the 2015 season with Memphis. There, he batted .272 with an .841 OPS in 87 games for the Redbirds.

The St. Louis Cardinals promoted Piscotty to their major league roster on July 21, 2015. He made his major league debut that night as the starting left fielder against the Chicago White Sox in an 8–5 win, and singled off Carlos Rodón in his second at-bat for his first hit. His sacrifice fly scored Peter Kozma on July 25 and was the only run of the game and game-winner in a 1–0 win over the Atlanta Braves for his first RBI. His first home run came at Busch Stadium on August 16 in a 6–4 loss to the Miami Marlins, and he hit his first triple the next day in a 2–1 win over the San Francisco Giants. Piscotty set a career-high five RBI on August 23 against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park, including his first career multi-home run game, while adding a triple. The first four-hit game of Piscotty's professional, and major league, career was in 6–0 win over the Giants at AT&T Park on August 29.