By Chris Brown – STL Baseball Today

The wait for top prospect Stephen Piscotty is finally over for Cardinals fans, as the 2012 first-round draft pick was promoted from AAA Memphis to join the Cardinals before the team kicks off a two game interleague series against the White Sox in Chicago Tuesday night. After the news of Piscotty’s promotion were first broken by Rob Rains of STL Sports Page early Tuesday afternoon, general manager John Mozeliak confirmed the news to Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch just a few hours later.

The 24-year-old Piscotty, who has appeared almost exclusively in the outfield over his last few seasons in the minors, has been getting the opportunity to play first base in the last few days (making six appearances) in order to prepare him to play the position at the big-league level.

Since starting first baseman Matt Adams went down with a season-ending quad injury in late May, the Cardinals have gotten little production offensively from the first base position. Mark Reynolds, who signed a one-year deal in the offseason to serve primarily as a bench bat and corner infield backup, has been pressed into nearly everyday duty in Adams’ absence. The 31-year-old is hitting just .229 with 8 home runs and 33 RBI on the season. The team will likely give Piscotty a chance to prove he could be a viable option down the stretch before making a potential trade prior to the July 31 trade deadline.

In order to clear room for Piscotty on the Cardinals’ 25- and 40-man rosters, outfielder Tommy Pham was optioned to Memphis and AAA infielder Ty Kelly was designated for assignment.

In his last 26 games at the AAA level, Piscotty was hitting .309 with 4 home runs and 15 RBI. He’s hitting .272 with 11 home runs, 28 doubles, and 42 RBI on the season at the AAA level, and was recently ranked as the organization’s top prospect by MLB.com.

Piscotty will wear #55.

Read more: Cardinals.com, STL Baseball Weekly