Stephen Piscotty, Cardinals Agree on 6-Year Contract Extension

The St. Louis Cardinals and outfielder Stephen Piscotty agreed to a six-year contract extension Monday, one day after the team's season-opening win over the Chicago Cubs, the team announced. 

Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports first reported the news. Heyman noted the deal guarantees Piscotty $33.5 million.

Rosenthal broke down the annual value of the deal: 

Piscotty, 26, is not eligible for free agency until 2022. His arbitration would not begin until 2019 given his years of service. While the length of the contract has not been made public, it's all but certain the Cardinals bought out his arbitration years and possibly a year or two of free agency.

Heading into his second full season in the majors, Piscotty hit .273/.343/.457 with 22 home runs and 85 runs batted in last year. FanGraphs' wins above replacement formula had him at 2.8, which made him an above-average outfielder. Projections have Piscotty pegged for a similar season in 2017, and he spoke openly in the spring about making adjustments to his swing. 

“I want to get to a point where I can just start playing chess with the pitcher,” Piscotty said, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I want to feel good about my swing and just dive into it. ‘He just threw me that? So, he’s probably going to come here next.’ I want to start playing that game. I haven’t gotten to do that a whole lot because I’m usually fighting myself.”

Piscotty was 1-for-3 in St. Louis' 4-3 win over the Cubs on Sunday night. He hit sixth in the order and started in right field.

With Dexter Fowler, Randal Grichuk and Piscotty all under team control for the foreseeable future, the Cardinals now appear to have their outfield locked up going forward.