St. Louis Cardinals Best/Worst Case 2016: Stephen Piscotty

Best Case: Lots of doubles, lots of RBI’s, lots of scenes like in the image above

I think that Stephen Piscotty is a 40 doubles a year kind of a hitter. He has enough power to be a 25-30 home run guy, as well. While I think it would be a bit overzealous to EXPECT Piscotty to approach 30 long balls in 2016, in a best-case scenario, that is a very reachable figure.

Piscotty’s swing is so simple and compact. He is capable of hitting to all fields. He is the closest thing to a pure gap hitter as the Cards have had since Pujols (although he hit bombs, in addition to those gaps).

Piscotty is at his best when he is driving the ball back up the middle or into the right-center field gap. Because he is so advanced at spraying the ball to all fields, I think that he is as “slump proof” as any Cardinal bat in the lineup.

In addition, Piscotty is faster than he looks out there. Both out in right field and on the base paths. Piscotty has already stolen three bases this spring, after swiping just two in his two-and-a-half month stint with the big club in 2015.

If Mike Matheny lets Piscotty go out there a little bit on the base paths, 20-25 steals becomes a very reachable figure.

With all of that very scientific analysis, I’ve come up with the following numbers for Biscotti’s best-case 2016 stat line:

.309/.374/.494 with 27 home runs, 103 RBI, 42 doubles, and 23 stolen bases.

Those would most certainly be All-Star numbers and would likely earn Piscotty MVP considerations. Likewise, I would be very surprised if the Chicago Cubs right fielder (I’m talking about Heyward) approached numbers like that this year, even if he does have hitter-friendly Wrigley Field on his side.

Next: Worst Case: Injury? Regression in a full season?