Stephen Piscotty Must Prove Himself To St. Louis Cardinals In 2016 Spring Training

The St. Louis Cardinals made a bold move this offseason by letting Jason Heyward sign with the Chicago Cubs. It wouldn’t have been so important, except that they also traded Jon Jay to the San Diego Padres for Jedd Gyorko. Now the Cardinals have to be careful about what is going on in right field.

Stephen Piscotty had a great 2015 season coming up and playing 63 games combined between the outfield and first base. This season they are getting ready to hand over right field to him full time. Don’t be fooled, however. They have Brandon Moss and Matt Adams sharing first base as an insurance policy. That’s why Piscotty needs to prove himself this spring.

So far he has had a stat line nearly identical to his 2015 this spring. That is encouraging for the Cardinals. As spring training winds down, the pitching tends to get better. Piscotty needs to stay hot for Mike Matheny to trust him in right field everyday.

There may be even a bit more pressure on Piscotty as Moss has had some trouble getting on base this spring. The backup plan for the Cardinals may not be as safe as management first suspected. The Cardinals have other options should Moss and Piscotty falter.

Tommy Pham is having a hot spring after a surprisingly hot 2015. He is more of a leadoff type hitter than Piscotty, but he is showing that he can hit for extra bases. He also has more experience in the outfield than Piscotty.

The pressure is on Piscotty. He played his way into this position. Now he has to finish out spring training strong to hold off the challenge from Pham and Moss.