Cardinals trade Piscotty to Athletics for 2 prospects
Stephen Piscotty is officially headed to the East Bay.
The Oakland Athletics completed a trade to acquire the outfielder from the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday in exchange for prospects Yairo Munoz and Max Schrock.
A Piscotty trade was virtually inevitable after the Cardinals reportedly acquired All-Star outfielder Marcell Ozuna from the Miami Marlins on Wednesday. The trade with Oakland was agreed to late Wednesday night before a brief snag in negotiations delayed the official announcement.
Piscotty is a native of Pleasanton, Calif., a city that lies just 30 minutes east of the Athletics' home ballpark. St. Louis was working to send him back to the Bay Area in part because his mother was diagnosed with ALS last year. He missed five games in 2017 due to his mother's illness.
"There were certainly some opportunities to move him elsewhere, and when you're looking at how to break a tie, clearly that (personal situation) did play into it," Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said after the trade was announced, according to Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com.
Between injuries and his personal absences, Piscotty played just 107 games in the 2017 season. He posted a .235/.342/.367 slash line (88 OPS+) with nine home runs and 16 doubles, numbers that were well below his breakout 2016 campaign.
The 26-year-old signed a six-year, $33.75-million extension with the Cardinals last November. The contract also contains a $15-million club option in 2023.
Munoz, ranked as the Athletics' No. 13 prospect by MLB Pipeline, hit .300/.330/.464 with 13 homers, 68 RBIs, and 22 stolen bases over 112 games split between Double-A and Triple-A last season. The 22-year-old Dominican is able to play multiple positions; last year he played 46 games at shortstop, 36 at third base, and 28 in the outfield.
Schrock was ranked as the club's 17th-best prospect before the deal. The 23-year-old spent his entire 2017 season at Double-A, where he hit .321/.379/.422 with seven homers and 46 RBIs in 457 plate appearances.