A's outfielder Stephen Piscotty underwent successful surgery Thursday to remove a melanoma from his right ear, the club announced.
Piscotty, 28, is resting comfortably at home and the team expects him to return within a week. He will be evaluated daily as he awaits more information from the pathology report on the surgery.
"What I know is that we believe it was caught early, hopefully as a result of Stephen being vigilant," said A's general manager David Forst. "We won't get a pathology report back until sometime next week. I traded texts with Stephen last night. He was doing fine and in a good mood."
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The procedure was performed by plastic surgeon Dr. Brian Parrett at the California Pacific Medical Campus in San Francisco. Dr. Parrett removed the melanoma in its entirety.
"Obviously, we're thinking about him right now," said A's manager Bob Melvin. "From my understanding, it went pretty well. At this point, we haven't made a move, so we're trying to hold our hopes out that we get him back sooner than later."
The issue was initially discovered by dermatologist Dr. Joseph Chao of Sutter Health during a routine spot check. Dr. Chao identified a suspicious mole and the biopsy came back positive for melanoma, a form of skin cancer.
"We will hope to see him tomorrow," Forst said. "As we said, we hope he will be able to play within a week -- maybe a few days, maybe later next week. I don't know. We'll see how he's doing tomorrow. But he can play with the stitches in. The stitches won't be removed until next Thursday. But he'll be able to play when he says he's ready, I think. As an organization, we're just trying to support whatever he needs. We are very happy that this was caught when it was."
Oakland Athletics
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Piscotty has started 65 of the A's 69 games this season, slashing .250/.314/.400 with eight home runs, 13 doubles, and 29 RBI. The Pleasanton native is in his second season with Oakland after spending his first three years with the St. Louis Cardinals.