About Us
Stephen Piscotty
Stephen, 31, grew up playing baseball for Livermore American Little League. Stephen played all four years as a Varsity athlete in both baseball and basketball at Amador Valley (Graduating class of 2009 with Will LaMarche). His breakout high school baseball career was completed with an EBAL Most Valuable Player Award in 2009. He was drafted out of high school by the LA Dodgers in the 45th round, but opted out to pursue a scholarship to play at Stanford University.
Stephen graduated Stanford with a Bachelor’s Degree in Atmospheric & Energy Engineering. His college baseball career was also fruitful, becoming a 3rd Team All American (2012) & 1st Team All-PAC 10 (2011, 2012), which led him to being drafted in the 1st round (36th overall) in the 2012 MLB draft by the St. Louis Cardinals.
Stephen spent 3 years in the minor leagues and was the St. Louis Cardinals ‘Minor League Player of the Year’ in 2015. He got “the call” to The Show to make his Major League Debut on July 21, 2015.
Since then, Stephen has notched almost 8 full seasons in the Big Leagues- 2,500 Major League at bats, nearly 100 career home runs and several Major League Playoffs Series in his years between the Cardinals and A’s. After Stephen’s 2017 season, he was traded from the Cardinals to A’s in deal that had larger implications than just baseball.
Earlier that year, his mother Gretchen was diagnosed with ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. This fatal disease took her ability to walk, talk, eat or breathe. The trade allowed Stephen to be close to home to help his family with the enormous amount of care his mother needed until she sadly passed at the young age of 55.
After the passing and memorial service in May of 2018, Stephen’s first at bat back – at Fenway Park – runs chills through anyone who relives it…
Stephen continued to compete at the highest level - showing the sports community a first class example of level-headedness, focus and determination in the midst of one of life’s most brutal challenges. This earned Stephen the prestigious MLB awards of 2018 ‘Toughest Man Award’ (Tony Conigliaro Award) & the 2018 ‘Most Competitive Player Award’ (Hutch Award). In 2020, he also earned the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award (Player that most exemplifies Lou Gehrig).
Today, Stephen lives in Danville, CA with his wife Carrie and son (1) Aiden. Other than his Major League day job, he’s an avid learner of current events, investor, guitarist, wine-maker and golfer. He is also involved with the ALS Cure Project (https://www.alscure.org) alongside his father, Mike, who is President.
“The Piscotty Story”
WILL LAMARCHE
I grew up in Pleasanton, CA & played for Pleasanton American Little League. Before reaching high school, I played for the 12U USA team in tournaments around the country & internationally, including living with a host family in Guayaquil, Ecuador for a month and a half.
My baseball journey was never the ‘fast track’ before reaching the professional level - hitting every little step along the way. Entering Amador Valley High School (graduating class of 2009 with Stephen Piscotty), I played for both the Freshman & JV Baseball teams before moving on to Varsity near the end of my sophomore year. In my junior year (2008) during a spring break tournament in San Luis Obispo, I threw a pitch that was hit directly back at me, knocking out 8 teeth, breaking my upper and lower jaw. Missing 31 days of school - and baseball - was my first lesson in what would be a long, yet auspicious path towards achieving my dream.
Auspicious it was. One day, while a recruiting coach from a Division 1 baseball program - Long Beach State - was out watching a player from Huntington Beach High School, he noticed a pitcher on the opposite team instead. Unfortunately, that pitcher left the game early – he took a line drive off the head in the 3rd inning, apparently knocking out 8 teeth and breaking his jaw…Turns out, Long Beach State offered me scholarship to join them.
Upon an autoimmune reaction that sidelined me for most of the first 4 months of the Fall (2009) season, I recovered - and then tore my UCL in my throwing elbow pitching in a practice game before the start of the regular season - requiring a full elbow reconstruction (Tommy John Surgery). Long Beach State released me after red shirting my freshman year, and it was here that I battled lesson number 2 in my ‘long, yet auspicious path towards achieving my dreams.’
During the 20-month long rehab journey, my motivation was to have Long Beach State’s head coach re-offer me a scholarship to come back. Finally in my junior year (2012), I threw in my first college baseball game for Chabot Community College in Hayward, CA. What was once an 84mph fastball just 2 years before, had turned into 100mph. Driving home after a game during the season, my phone rang – a saved contact appeared on my screen. The head coach of Long Beach State had called to check in - and offered me a full scholarship to re-join the team. I couldn’t have been happier in that moment – and respectfully declined. Just one day before, I had decided to accept a scholarship to play for the #1 baseball team in the country, Louisiana State University (LSU), instead.
My season with Chabot ended with another gift, as I had also been selected in the 18th round of the 2012 MLB Draft by the Minnesota Twins, but chose to decline to pursue my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at LSU. With an LSU record setting 59-7 2013 season, we went to the College World Series in Omaha - a memory I’ll cherish forever. I was selected in the 9th round of the 2013 MLB Draft (276th overall) by the Detroit Tigers, where my professional career began.
From leaving the ‘pinnacle college experience’ at LSU to being back in the shoes of a ‘rookie,’ lesson number 3 was around the corner, as I missed the end of 2014 and all of the 2015 season due to another elbow flare up that required a second elbow surgery. Another year and a half of rehab in the books & I was finally facing hitters in a practice game again - only to be released by the Tigers directly after the game in 2016. I didn’t know what ‘crushed’ felt like until this moment.
My childhood dream was to play for the SF Giants – and if any of the 3 prior ‘lessons’ had taught me anything, it was that using each set back as an opportunity to develop my mind and body even better than before would be auspicious.
I played in an independent league that year (Frontier League - 2016) to update my baseball resume – and with help from family and friends, I got an opportunity to drive down to Arizona to pitch in front of the SF Giants coordinators. They signed me the next day, where I had a 2-season minor league stint (2017, 2018) playing in the Black and Orange.
I finally gave the game a real goodbye at 28 years old in Spring Training of 2019 - 24 baseball seasons, 7 of those professional (13’-16’ Detroit Tigers, 16’ Frontier League, 17’-19’ SF Giants) .
Today, I live in San Ramon, CA. By day, I work as Utility Teacher at Mission Hills Elementary School in Castro Valley – PE teacher, Computer-Basics class, substitute teaching and/or assisting with overall school operations. I run my own private baseball business - currently working with 70+ players and over 400 players since beginning in 2018. At the age of 30 - outside of baseball activities - I find joy in working with kids, playing guitar/piano, macroeconomics, short trips to Napa Valley Wine Country and traveling.