The Oakland Athletics have actively shopped and eventually traded several players this offseason. Now, with few veterans remaining on their roster, Jerry Crasnick of ESPN is reporting that the A’s are shopping young first baseman Brandon Allen. Ben Nicholson-Smith of MLBTR.com lists the Rays, Indians, Pirates and Brewers as potential suitors for the 25-year-old.
According to Crasnick, the A’s feel that they no longer have room for Allen now that they’ve acquired several other young bats. Allen’s primarily played first base throughout his career, and Oakland has three other young players competing for time at that position including Daric Barton, Chris Carter and Kila Ka’aihue.
After being drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 5th round of the 2004 MLB Draft, Allen was eventually shipped to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for reliever Tony Pena. Last summer, Allen landed with the A’s in the trade that sent Brad Ziegler to the Diamondbacks.
Allen has been able to demolish minor league pitching throughout his career, as he hit at a clip of .299/.413/.578 with 25 home runs, 18 doubles and 86 RBI’s over his 419 plate appearances in 2011. Over his three seasons at the Triple-A level, Allen has maintained an OPS of .956.
Unfortunately for Allen this hasn’t translated into success at the major league level. Last season Allen combined to hit .200/.277/.377 over his 175 plate appearances with the A’s and Diamondbacks.
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