Once again it is collaborative post time here on Call to the Pen. This month’s topic is September call-ups. To get the ball rolling, I posed the following question to each of our Lead Writers, “Which player do you want your team to call-up in September and why?” It is a simple question but I think you will find the responses to be very diverse.
Taking the path less traveled this month, I decided to post each team’s write-up individually instead of grouping them by league or division as we have done in the past.
Representing the Arizona Diamondbacks and Venom Strikes is the site’s Lead Writer, Scott Allen. Check out what he has to say after the jump.
Scott’s Take*:
*Scott submitted his response on August 24th. Stats have been updated as necessary.
It’s a tough call as a fan of the Arizona Diamondbacks to see who I would like to see them call up for the month of September. As far as I’m concerned, call them all up. It can’t get any worse than it already has been. Ok, seriously though, if I had a gun to my head and HAD to pick ONE player to be called up, I would say Brandon Allen.
Allen, a first baseman, has been tearing it up in Reno. He has 25 homers, 86 RBI, and a batting average of 0.261 through August 31st. He was supposed to be the first baseman of the future for the Dbacks and still could be, that’s why I think it’s important to get him up here to see what he can do for a few weeks.
With the rumors of Adam Laroche being possibly traded, now word comes out that they may offer him an extension. Now is the time to see what Allen can do, either for these Dbacks, or possibly showcase him for another team for next season. I’ve heard the Dbacks organization thinks highly of him. It’s going to be Laroche or Allen at first next season. If not Allen, get him up here now and bait him for maybe some decent pitching in return. The Dbacks must commit to one of these players and soon.
Allen was a little disappointing in spring training and that’s why he has toiled in Reno most of the season. Besides that, Laroche is having a great offensive season and calling Allen up anytime sooner would have been a mistake. He would have just spent most of the time on the bench with maybe a spot start here and there. He needs to be playing everyday to gain consistency and major league confidence. With the season shot, maybe the Dbacks can give him a number of starts in September. Laroche could sit more against lefty’s. I don’t want to see either one of them sit, but this is the time to see if Allen can shine.
~~~~~
My Notes:
Brandon Allen, as expected, was called up today and made an immediate impact. He went 2-3 with a grand slam against the Padres. Arizona found a way to get him in the lineup by playing him in LF (where he played 33 times this season in Triple-A) while leaving LaRoche to man 1B.