While the Washington Nationals attempted to get him to go after sliders and the Philadelphia Phillies kept buzzing fastballs at his hands, one of the best young players in the game, Stephen Piscotty continues to hurt opposing pitching.
The St. Louis Cardinals’ Piscotty is now making opposing pitchers pay for putting runners on base in front of him as he is at his most dangerous at that time.
Piscotty has matured in just 29 games and has the ability to adapt which is the foundation for St. Louis’ offense being better than was expected.
Piscotty has performed the best during the biggest spots. He is batting .468 with Cardinals’ runners in scoring position. Piscotty overall is hitting .301 and his 20 RBIs from the No. 2 spot lead the team.
It is rare that he looks as if he is a player getting a crack for the first time at playing every day, but that is just what he is doing.
He approach to the game fits hand in hand with pro-style hitters such as Matt Holliday and Matt Carpenter, while the go for broke play of Grichuk already has caused him to go through slumps of great proportion at the plate.
Mike Matheny the St. Louis manager praised the play of Piscotty saying he has been very consistent from the two spot.
Matheny knows Piscotty will have times when he is not sure of himself or does not look right, but the Cardinals manager says his coaches and the players will help him through it.
For example, Piscotty did not break from the batter’s box hard on a grounder back to the mound that created a double play even when the opposing shortstop had to tag the runner at second before throwing out Piscotty at first.
However, there is much more to like about his game than dislike, Matheny says Piscotty is a plus defender in right.
His diving catch down the line in foul territory foiled a Philadelphia rally on Thursday in the ninth inning.
The Cardinals will be giving both Piscotty and Grichuk ample opportunities to prove themselves this season and after only 29 games, it appears that Piscotty is taking advantage of each opportunity it gets.
The Cardinals have started off slow compared to the past few years but there are the long hot days of summer still to come and most believe they will be there battling in the end for the National League Central title.
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