The Athletics have placed Stephen Piscotty on the 10-day injured list because of a left wrist sprain, the team announced. Skye Bolt will be recalled to claim Piscotty’s roster spot.
Bolt was only recently sent down to Triple-A on June 16. The injury to Piscotty allows Oakland to turn right around and bring him back to the active roster. Bolt had been serving as an injury replacement for the recently-returned Ramon Laureano.
In nine games of action with the A’s, Bolt went 1-for-13 at the plate with a solo homer. While his bat has yet to heat up at the Major League level, Bolt has flashed plus glovework in the outfield while making a couple of highlight reel catches. He racked up one defensive run saved in just 36 innings of scattered playing time in centerfield.
Piscotty gets semi-regular work in right field, splitting the time with Seth Brown in a fairly straightforward platoon. The right-handed Piscotty has 75 plate appearances against southpaws this year (with a 105 wRC+) versus 66 opportunities against right-handers (with a 59 wRC+). On the whole, the veteran owns a .217/.284/.357 line with 4 home runs, a 7.8 percent walk rate and 23.4 percent strikeout rate.
Brown, his counterpart in right, has just 14 plate appearances against lefties versus 141 plate appearances against righties. In the admittedly tiny sample, Brown has managed quite well against southpaws – 132 wRC+, which can be attributed to one home run and three walks. With Piscotty out, manager Bob Melvin could give Brown an opportunity to prove himself with more volume against left-handers. More likely, Melvin will turn to Chad Pinder or Bolt, who is a switch-hitter.
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