Athletics' Nick Allen: Seeing plenty of work early
Allen, considered the top defensive prospect at shortstop in all of baseball entering 2021, has played in seven of the Athletics' first eight Cactus League games, Martin Gallegos of MLB.com reports. "This spring is important for [Allen]," manager Bob Melvin said. "He's a top prospect of ours, and we want to take a hard look at him."
The fact the 22-year-old has yet to play above the High-A level and lost a year of in-game action in 2020 will prevent Allen from opening the season any higher than Double-A Midland, but that doesn't necessarily rule out an ascension all the way to the majors at some point in 2021. So says Oakland's farm director Ed Sprague, who saw plenty of Allen at the team's alternate training site last season and was impressed with the prospect's developing plate skills. Allen will naturally need to continue demonstrating that offensive improvement at the minor-league level before a promotion is considered, but the consensus on his glove is that it's already major-league caliber.
