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

Worst Case: A bite from the injury bug? A regression in Piscotty’s first full season of at-bats?

Well, we got ourselves a nice scare yesterday with Piscotty at the dish. He took a high and tight fastball off of the forearm/elbow area in a 14-9 Cardinals victory over the Mets. All x-rays came back negative, and Piscotty will just have to deal with the bruising and swelling.

After the Peralta problem last week, plus all of 2015 taken into consideration, you cannot help but think of the worst when any sort of injury pops up with this squad.

More from St Louis Cardinals News

• Cardinals Rumors: 3 pros and cons of signing Carlos Rodon
• Cardinals: Here is Willson Contreras’ first message for St. Louis fans
• How do the St. Louis Cardinals stack up with Willson Contreras?
• Cardinals: The insane asking price the Athletics had for Sean Murphy
• St. Louis Cardinals: Ask me anything with Josh Jacobs – 12/8

While Piscotty hasn’t been injury-prone thus far in his career, the point is that you never know who could be next. Let’s all participate in a collective knocking on wood, so that we can free ourselves of any injury jinxes this year.

That feels so much better.

In a more likely worst-case, Piscotty could simply experience struggles in maneuvering his first 162-game schedule in St. Louis. While I see Piscotty as the most consistent Cardinal bat going forward, I could have said the same about Allen Craig back in 2012 or 2013.

Baseball is such a strange game. You cannot take anything for granted, whether it’s good health or assuming that a guy will perform based on how he’s been in the past.

While I see it as a very unlikely scenario, there is always the possibility that Piscotty struggles with full-time right field duties, leaving the Cards with a glaring hole in their outfield.

Next: My Prediction