piatt played baseball at bishop verot high school, followed by a successful college career at mississippi state university (msu), helping lead the bulldogs to multiple ncaa tournament appearances. piatt led the msu team in 1996 with a .370 batting average. piatt played mostly at third base for msu and was named to the second team all-southeastern conference unit in 1997, when the bulldogs reached the college world series. he chose to leave school early after that, and signed a professional contract. piatt finished his education at msu, earning cum laude honors from msu's business school.