Piscotty injury opens door for other outfield candidates
GOODYEAR, ARIZ. >> Stephen Piscotty will be shut down for the foreseeable future, possibly relegating the A’s outfielder to the injured list for the beginning of the regular season.
An MRI revealed that Piscotty’s intercostal strain had worsened. There is no timetable for his return.
Manager Bob Melvin said he has “no idea” if he will be ready for the regular season, but he wouldn’t throw it out of the realm of possibility.
Piscotty hasn’t played a
Cactus League game this season due to his sore ribs. He said the soreness could be attributed to taking too many swings in the cages during the offseason.
The silver lining is that the A’s have a plethora of viable outfielders ready to step up in Piscotty’s absence.
“The more you do this, the more you realize how important depth is,” Melvin said. “Not only pitching, but certainly on the position player equation it’s very rare you get to spring training and everyone gets through it healthy.”
Piscotty rode the injured list for a good chunk of last season. He missed 69 games between injury issues in June and August. He sprained his right knee early in the season, returned, and sprained his right ankle sliding into
second base in mid-August. Piscotty decided to forgo surgery on his ankle, rehabbed and returned for the final series of the regular season but didn’t make the wild-card roster.
An outfield without Piscotty to start can easily shift with the pieces it holds, though. It looks as if the starting outfield would be Ramón Laureano in center, Mark Canha in right field and Robbie Grossman in left in a platoon situation with Swiss Army knife Chad Pinder. Laureano and Canha could easily switch places, too.
But, a possible open roster spot could mean that a number of outfielders on the 40man roster who have shined — particularly this spring — could take advantage of this opening with a shot at the Opening Day roster.
Luis Barrera missed that window last season when he was placed on the 60day injured list with a shoulder injury he suffered in June with the Double-A Midland RockHounds (he also was named the MVP of the Texas League AllStar Game in 2019). But, back with the A’s in camp, Barrera looks like he hasn’t missed a beat.
“He’s come in this spring looking to prove something,” Melvin said on Wednesday.
Barrera’s demonstrated a plus first-step instinct in the outfield, a capability that stood out when he effortlessly snagged Giants third baseman Jacob Gonzalez’s sure-fire gap double Sunday.
The A’s are looking to bolster the crop of lefthanded bats on the roster, too. Enter Barrera, whose injury kept him away from winter ball this year. He notably slashed .440/.500/.440 with a .940 OPS in the Dominican League in 2018-19. With the RockHounds, he slashed .321/.357/.513 with a .871 OPS, but his bat’s been hot in the Cactus League. He’s collected five hits in 13 at bats (.384 average) in seven games.
The 24-year-old might have been on the fast track to a starting outfield role last season had he not incurred that shoulder injury. This sliver of opportunity could open that fast track back up again. Barrera has two minor league options.
Seth Brown is another candidate to step up. The A’s have one of the best first basemen in baseball in
Matt Olson (Canha and Pinder can play there, too), so consideration for positional flexibility at that position seems futile. But Brown is a natural first baseman, converted to a reliable outfielder.
Brown forced his way up to the big leagues last August after mashing 37 home runs for the Las Vegas Aviators. He couldn’t go yard within the big league confines, but Brown proved he could hit big league pitching right away. He turned into an RBI machine (13 in 26 games).
Skye Bolte and Dustin Fowler are other options on the 40-man that could provide depth.
FIERS TRIES OUT SLIDER AGAIN >> Mike Fiers has relied almost entirely on a four-pitch mix since he was with the Houston Astros in 2017. The 34-yearold’s arsenal consists of a fastball, cutter, curveball and changeup. It’s an arsenal that’s largely worked for him.
In his first two starts of spring, Fiers has strayed a bit from his normal four pitches and started trying to incorporate his slider into the mix.
Fiers gave up five runs on four hits with three walks in two innings against the Cincinnati Reds in an eventual 10-1 loss Friday at Goodyear Ballpark.
“I don’t even know half the guys in the lineup,” Fiers said.
This start was more about his own progress this spring, less about the crooked numbers.
A red flag shot up when Reds shortstop Jose Garcia lofted a lazy slider into the left field’s foul territory, just shy of being fair. Another flag shot up when Fiers
dealt another slider that slipped right over the plate again. And, that one, Garcia lofted into the lawn.
Take those swings with a grain of salt.
“That slider he hit for a homer, to be honest I wouldn’t throw that in that situation, but I have to work on it to have an extra pitch if I need to,” Fiers said.
It wasn’t the first time he’d thrown back-toback sliders this spring. He threw two to Giants’ Wilmer Flores on Sunday, but he spoiled them — to Fiers’ relief.
It’s a pitch Fiers has been challenging himself with this spring as a potential weapon to mix in with his cutter against right-handed hitters. Fiers said he’s been fiddling with it in bullpen sessions, but it’s clearly a work in progress. It’s a pitch he used liberally, with varied success, in Milwaukee. Fiers said he thought he’d rekindled that relationship with his slider. That changed come game-time.
“it doesn’t look like it,” Fiers said, asked if he saw any improvements to his slider. “But when the season comes, you go to your strengths. But this is the time to work on it.” INJURY UPDATE >> Daulton Jefferies had an MRI on his right bicep (his throwing arm), days after leaving his appearance early against the Milwaukee Brewers. Jefferies had recorded just two outs and given up three runs on three hits with a walk. Results should be available today.
Sean Murphy, who is slowrolling his way back into action after dealing with his right knee last season, is slated to make his Cactus League debut on March 3 against the White Sox.