A’s place Stephen Piscotty on IL, bring back Seth Brown

The Oakland A’s made a move in their outfield for the second straight day.

The A’s placed right fielder Stephen Piscotty on the 10-day injured list Saturday morning, the team announced. The diagnosis is a sprained left wrist.

This is the second time Piscotty has landed on the IL this year due to his left wrist. He also missed a couple weeks at the end of June, and indeed this is a re-aggravation of the same issue, reports insider Martin Gallegos. It has affected him all year and might result in surgery, adds Gallegos.

To take Piscotty’s place on the active roster, Seth Brown was recalled from Triple-A.

Brown was just optioned down yesterday, to make room for the activation of Chad Pinder, and normally when a player goes down to the minors he must wait 10 days before coming back up to the majors. But that rule is waived if he’s replacing somebody who’s going on the IL, as Piscotty is doing, which is why Brown is allowed to come back so soon.

• Brown, 2021: .205/.274/.469, 101 wRC+, 16 HR, 8.5% BB, 28.2% Ks

Those 16 homers rank third on the team, and his rate of 15.5 plate appearances per dinger is the best of anybody on the A’s. He’s also the second-fastest player on the team, and a plus defender in the outfield corners.

Analysis

Yesterday, I criticized the A’s for sending down Brown while keeping both Pinder and Piscotty. That logjam has now taken care of itself, less than 24 hours later.

Simply put, Brown has been more productive than both Pinder and Piscotty this year, and he’s also a superior roster fit as a lefty batter with excellent corner defense. It was ridiculous that he was ever sent down, and it’s good news that he’s back.

Of course, it’s always unfortunate when an injury is involved. However, in this case there might be a silver lining for Piscotty, as a yearlong wrist issue goes a long way to explaining his yearlong struggles at the plate. This is his third straight poor season, but he’s been hurt basically that whole time in various parts of his body and it seems we haven’t really seen him fully healthy since his strong 2018 campaign — could he get back on track with better health? Piscotty is under guaranteed contract for one more year in 2022.

Here’s the updated roster, with the injury report below.

Injury report:

• RHP Trevor Rosenthal, OUT FOR YEAR, entire body (thoracic outlet, hip labrum)
• RHP Mike Fiers, 60-day IL, elbow (no structural damage; resumed throwing)
• RHP Chris Bassitt, 10-day IL, face (surgery scheduled 8/24)
• OF Stephen Piscotty, 10-day IL, wrist (surgery possible?)