White Sox sign OF Stephen Piscotty to minor league contract

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Chicago White Sox have signed veteran outfielder Stephen Piscotty to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Charlotte.

The signing was announced before the White Sox's game at the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday.

Piscotty, 32, has spent parts of eight seasons in the majors with the St. Louis Cardinals (2015-17) and Oakland Athletics (2018-22). He was signed by the San Francisco Giants in February but was released on March 29.

Piscotty has a .255 batting average and .324 on-base-percentage, with 93 homers and 354 RBIs in 726 career MLB games.

In 42 games with Oakland last year, Piscotty hit .190 with five homers and 14 RBIs.

The Athletics released Piscotty last August to allow for top prospect Shea Langeliers to gain experience down the stretch for the last-place team in the AL West.

Piscotty joined the Athletics in a trade from St. Louis before the 2018 season that brought him closer to his home in Pleasanton. His mother, Gretchen, died in May that year from Lou Gehrig's disease.

He helped lead Oakland back to the playoffs in 2018 after a three-year drought with career highs of 27 home runs and 88 RBIs.