White Sox Add Veteran Outfielder As Search For Depth Continues
The White Sox have added to their growing collection of veteran outfielders in Charlotte. According to a release from the Knights, Stephen Piscotty has joined the White Sox on a minor league deal and has been assigned to Triple-A.
Piscotty has spent eight years in the big seasons in the majors with a career slash line of .255/.324/.430 with 93 homers and 354 RBIs in 726 games. He carries an OPS+ of 104 and has stolen at least one base every year of his career, swiping 23 bags in 35 attempts. His best season came in 2018 when he established career highs with 27 home runs and 88 RBIs, which helped propel Oakland to the playoffs after a three-year drought.
The White Sox will be the fourth organization Piscotty has been with. The 32-year-old played with the St. Louis Cardinals from 2015-17 and the Oakland Athletics from 2018-22. He was signed by the San Francisco Giants in February but was released at the end of March.
He can play all three outfield positions and has even played 12 games at first base. However, given how many first basemen the White Sox already have, his services will not be needed in that department.
Piscotty owns a .991 fielding percentage as an outfielder and ranked in the top ten in putouts from right field on three separate occasions. However, during the 2020 season (which was his last year of consistent playing time in right field), his sprint speed ranked well below the average MLB outfielder, and his OAA and Outfield jump ranked in the bottom 20th percentile of MLB outfielders.
Piscotty joins Victor Reyes, Billy Hamilton, and Jake Marisnik as former MLB outfielders to put on a Knights uniform this year as Rick Hahn continues to search for sufficient outfield depth. The White Sox active roster currently has Andrew Benintendi, Luis Robert Jr, Oscalr Colás Adam Haseley, and Romy Gonzalez listed as their outfielders.
Colas has not been terribly impressive as he continues to get his feet wet in the major leagues. He has shown flashes of potential, but not without some growing pains. Gonzalez, despite playing the outfield while at the Univeristy of Miami, is more of a utility infielder. Haseley was a former first-round pick with the Phillies but has struggled to find his footing in the MLB and has since been bouncing up and down between Triple-A and the MLB.
That group doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence and figures to be shuffled around as the season goes along. Adding Piscotty to the mix does not do much to improve it.
Piscotty was batting .190 with the Athletics last season with just five home runs and 14 RBIs before the team decided to release him in August to make room for top prospect Shea Langeliers. As you could probably guess by his batting average, Picotty struggled to make hard contact with a career-low 6.3 barrel percentage.
The move figures to be another cheap option for the team to turn to in case more injuries arise.