St. Louis Cardinals: The Stephen Piscotty trade goes beyond baseball

Late Wednesday night, Jon Heyman reported the St. Louis Cardinals traded Stephen Piscotty to the Oakland Athletics for two minor leaguers.

While most people focused on the St. Louis Cardinals acquiring a power hitter to plug into their line-up, rumors surfaced the Athletics were close in acquiring the Cardinals right fielder Stephen Piscotty.

Piscotty will help the A’s get better both offensively and defensively, as well as help develop a team around him, but this trade goes beyond baseball. This allows him to be closer to home in Southern California to spend more time with his mother.

Piscotty’s mother, Gretchen, was diagnosed with ALS in early May, and Mike Matheny gave time for Piscotty to go home in Pleasanton, California to spend time with his mother once he found out about the heart-breaking news.

As fans, we forget sometimes athletes have families they go home to at night and spend time with the holidays when they aren’t playing baseball. This was a wake up call for fans when they heard about Piscotty’s mother’s diagnosis.

More from Redbird Rants

• Cardinals: 3 insider insights as St. Louis approach the Winter Meetings
• Cardinals: The best Silver Slugger performances at each position.
• Cardinals: Free-agent Cody Bellinger hitting with Matt Holliday
• The St. Louis Cardinals are in rare company with this free agency stat
• St. Louis Cardinals: 3 free agent bench options to consider

Throughout the season, Piscotty was struggling at the plate only batting .235, hitting nine home runs and having thirty-nine runs batted in while having 341 at-bats.

Some of those struggles could have just been his swing, but not being with his mother could have taken effect on him as well.

As stated before, this trade brings Piscotty closer to his family in Pleasaton as Oakland is just twenty-nine miles away.

This could help him stay a little more focused on his play since he will be seeing his family much more often than compared to being in St. Louis.

Piscotty’s time in St. Louis will surely never go unforgotten as he has made a name for himself in baseball, has helped the Cardinals to many victories and touched the hearts of many Cardinals fans.

Next: Three winter targets

Cardinal fans across the country wish Piscotty the very best in Oakland and will continue to keep him and his family in their thoughts and prayers. Thank you Stephen Piscotty!