Stephen Piscotty undergoes surgery to remove melanoma

A’s right fielder Stephen Piscotty had successful surgery Thursday to remove a melanoma from his right ear after a routine spot check with dermatologist Dr. Joseph Chao, who found a suspicious mole.

After a biopsy, the mole came back positive for melanoma. 

Piscotty, 28, had the melanoma was entirely removed at the California Pacific Medical Campus by plastic surgeon, Dr. Brian Parrett. 

According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, exposure to sun or other ultraviolet radiation, like tanning beds, can cause melanoma, which can resembles moles or even develop from them.

Athletics general manager David Forst said regarding Piscotty:

“They caught the melanoma early and don’t expect an IL stint. Piscotty can play with stitches and could possibly be back in a couple of days.”

Baseball has the longest season of all major sports, stretching from Spring Training as early as February and well into October. Players have the opportunity to get checked every year for screening, and instances like this raise awareness with players to take these annual screenings seriously. 

Piscotty didn’t want to make a big deal about it, especially with the team, according to Melvin. Piscotty knew about the mole headed into a routine check-up and luckily found it early and was able to remove all of it. 

Bob Melvin didn’t want to bother Piscotty, but reached out to him and heard everything went pretty successful: 

“He didn’t want it weighing anybody down so you know, obviously we are thinking about him right now. From my understanding it went pretty well. As this point we haven’t made a move so we are trying to hold our hopes up that we get him back sooner than later.”

According the Oakland A’s media release, Piscotty is:

“… resting comfortably at home and will be evaluated daily while awaiting further information from the pathology report on the surgery. We anticipate he will return to the club within the next week.”

The surgery went well, according to Melvin:

“What he went through last year, in his mind this is problem minor as far as that goes, which it isn’t. It is a big deal but like I said, he just wanted to get it over with and hopefully if it went well, get back as soon as possible and that is kinda where we are right now. We haven’t made a corresponding move we might not have to, we will see where we are at the end of this weekend.”