Oakland A’s activate Stephen Piscotty, option Kendall Graveman to Triple-A

The Oakland A’s activated Stephen Piscotty from the bereavement list on Tuesday, the team announced. To make room on the roster, pitcher Kendall Graveman was optioned down to Triple-A Nashville.

Piscotty went on the bereavement list on Friday after the passing of his mother. The outfielder missed the three-game series in Yankee Stadium over the weekend, as well as the opener in Boston on Monday. His brief absence cleared some extra space for the debut of top prospect Dustin Fowler, who started all four games in the interim.

Piscotty, 2018: .248/.306/.364, 84 wRC+, 2 HR, 6.0% BB, 20.1% Ks

It’s been a rough season so far for Piscotty, with a below-average batting line and atrocious fielding metrics, but that’s fair enough considering the recent distractions brought by his personal life. Athletics Nation, and the baseball world overall, are certainly rooting for Stephen and the whole Piscotty family.

Meanwhile, Graveman goes back down to the minors after a successful spot start against the Yankees on Friday. The right-hander made that appearance in place of Trevor Cahill, who went on the DL last week. Cahill is likely to return to action on Wednesday against the Red Sox, so Graveman is pushed back to Triple-A for now.

Graveman, 2018: 7.60 ERA, 34⅓ ip, 27 Ks, 13 BB, 9 HR, 6.20 FIP

After a wretched start to the season, Graveman went down to the minors to get back on track. His quality outing on Friday was an encouraging sign (6 ip, 1 ER, 4 Ks, 2 BB, 3 hits), but now he’ll get more time in Nashville to work out any remaining kinks.

Welcome back, Stephen! Sure to see you again soon, Kendall!