Piscotty, A's Talk Up the Need For Social Distancing
The A’s are using right fielder Stephen Piscotty as one of their spokesmen to urge people to fall in line with social distancing in the wake of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
In a short video placed on the A’s twitter account last week, Piscotty sits on a couch at home with his cat, Bubs, and talks about the need in this time of pandemic to follow the leadership of the medical community, which advises people to keep a six-foot distance from each other to avoid spreading or contracting the coronavirus.
Talking to a camera from his home, Piscotty said he’s following those guidelines.
“Just wanted to take a minute to wish everyone well during this difficult time,” Piscotty says. “I’m just hanging out with my friend here, ‘Bubs.’ We’re trying to hunker down and practice social distancing and hope you do, too.
“There’s so many incredible things you can do like washing your hands and keeping six feet away from each other. And just hope that everyone chips in, does their part to slow the outbreak. It’s a really important time and just hope that everyone’s thinking of others before themselves.”
Piscotty could be one of the rare baseball players to gain a slight advantage from the postponement of the start of the season imposed by Major League Baseball because of the pandemic.
Held back by an oblique injury, he was not going to be ready by March 26’s Opening Day, so he was going to start the season on the injured list.
In general, hitters find that oblique injuries negatively impacts the batter’s ability rotate, meaning he can’t generate the kind of bat speed and power they’d like.
While recovery from oblique strains is generally slow, Piscotty was looking at a return in late May or early June. And that’s approximately when the experts believe baseball will be ready to kick back into action.