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Stephen Piscotty, right, with his brothers Austin, center, and Nick, left, and dad, Mike holding their A's jackets with there mom Gretchen, their home in Pleasanton, Calif., on Monday, January 22, 2018. Piscotty, who was raised in the East Bay a die hard A's fan, was traded from the St. Louis Cardinals to the A's in the offseason, and announced his return with a family photo wearing the jackets they're holding. The move has brought him home an opportune time, as his mother Gretchen was recently diagnosed with ALS.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle 2018
ARLINGTON, Texas — Outfielder Stephen Piscotty’s tenure with the Oakland Athletics, at times emotional and frustrating, ended Tuesday with his release in his fifth A’s season.
Piscotty, 31, was hitting .190 in 42 games in the final guaranteed season of a six-year, $33.5 million contract signed with the Cardinals, who traded him to Oakland after the 2017 season. After a career year in 2018, Piscotty’s production declined the past four seasons and injuries limited his availability.
In a text to The Chronicle, Piscotty said he “wasn’t planning on having to reflect on my time with the A’s so soon, but when I do think back, I think immediately to 2018 and how grateful I am to this organization for bringing me home to be with family while my mom was sick. I’ll forever be grateful for that. Surely there have been a lot of ups and downs over the last few years, I think for now I’ll just focus on the ups and how lucky I was to wear the uniform of my hometown team.”
The trade from St. Louis brought Piscotty, who’s from Pleasanton and played at Stanford, closer to family and his mother, Gretchen, who died in May 2018 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. On May 15, 2018, in his first at-bat returning from the bereavement list, Piscotty hit a home run at Fenway Park in Boston.
Piscotty hit .267 with 27 home runs in 2018 as the A’s made the first of three straight playoff appearances. In nearly four full seasons since, however, he has played in 252 games, batting .229 with 28 home runs. He hit .220 with five homers in 72 games in 2021.
An everyday right fielder upon arriving in Oakland, Piscotty fell into a platoon or backup role. This season, he missed 48 games with a calf strain sustained in May. His .593 OPS (in 42 games) was on pace for a career low.
“I think we all saw the player he was and still is, I think, capable of being in 2018,” A’s general manager David Forst said Tuesday. “That was the player we traded for and thought we were getting. And things happen. Guys deal with injuries. We know that’s part of the game. I think if Stephen wants to, there’s a lot of baseball still ahead of him.”
In releasing Piscotty, the A’s will pay the rest of his $7.25 million salary this season. His deal included a $15 million club option for 2023 with a $1 million buyout. He is now free to sign with any team.
“I appreciate everything Stephen gave us both on and off the field in his time here,” Forst said. “Obviously, everything that Stephen went through off the field, I think we as an organization learned a lot from him and his family and really the importance of things away from baseball.”
Piscotty and his family remain active in the fight against ALS. His father, Mike, started the ALS Cure Project with Stephen to raise funds and work toward developing a cure for the disease. They were part of the push for MLB to launch its “Lou Gehrig Day” last year to help spur momentum in the fight against ALS.
“I will for sure miss it here,” Piscotty said of the A’s via text. “Not sure what’s next for me, going to spend some family time with my beautiful wife and son and let it all sink in, but I’ve definitely not played my last baseball game.”
Matt Kawahara covers the A’s for The San Francisco Chronicle.
