According to Zack Meisel of The Athletic, the Guardians have selected the contract of left-hander Logan Allen, who will start this afternoon’s game against the Marlins. To make room on the active roster, infielder Tyler Freeman was optioned to Triple-A, while catching prospect Bryan Lavastida was designated for assignment to make room for Allen on the 40-man roster.
Allen, 24, is the Guardians’ eighth best prospect according to MLB Pipeline. His promotion is no surprise, as the Guardians had already announced their plans to start the lefty today earlier this week. A second round pick by the Guardians in the 2020 draft, Allen sports plus control to go with velocity in the low to mid 90s on his fastball, a slider, and a changeup that’s considered to be his best pitch. After posting a 3.33 ERA in 73 innings of work at the Double-A level last season, Allen earned a promotion to Triple-A, though the young lefty struggled badly in 59 2/3 innings at the level, posting a 6.49 ERA while walking 10.7% of batters faced and striking out just 27%.
Those numbers have all improved drastically in the early going this season, however, as Allen has allowed two earned runs in three starts (14 1/3 innings) in his return to Triple-A this season. That showing has earned Allen his first big league opportunity, though with an off-day on Thursday allowing the Guardians to go back to a four starters for the next turn through the rotation, it’s possible this is merely a spot start for the youngster.
Freeman, 24 next month, heads to Triple-A in Allen’s place. He had been called up earlier in the week and appeared in just two games during his short stint with the big league club, though he did well in his eight plate appearances, recording a single, a double, and a walk without striking out. Freeman got a slightly longer cup of coffee in the big leagues last season, though that was less successful, as he slashed just .247/.314/.286 (76 wRC+) in 86 plate appearances. He’ll now head to Triple-A to serve as infield depth alongside Brayan Rocchio.
Lavastida, 24, ranked as one of the Guardians’ top 30 prospects as recently as last season, per MLB Pipeline. Unfortunately, he has endured multiple seasons of offensive woes in the upper levels of the minors at this point. Since his promotion to Double-A in 2021, Lavastida has slashed just .225/.300/.357 in 86 games at the level, while his Triple-A slash line of .217/.307/.368 in 46 games is hardly better. The Guardians now have seven days to trade, waive, or release Lavastida. As an upper-level catcher with options remaining, he figures to be an attractive option to clubs on the waiver wire, who may hope a change of scenery could help him rediscover the offensive success that he had in the lower levels of the minors.
Already announced earlier this week? In North America Sunday is the first day of the week. Haha!!
Best of luck to Logan Taylor Allen, you’ll never forget your ML debut!
Technically, I guess, but I always consider Monday to be the first day of the week. First day back at work and all, for me at least.
I look at it this way: Sunday is still the weekend, i.e. the end of the week.
encyclopedia – I get it, makes sense for some people to go by the work week.
Most countries start the week on Sunday because in Judaism and Christianity Sunday is the beginning of the week, same reason why the Gregorian calendar has Sunday as the beginning.
Phillies could roll the dice on Lavastida without a healthy C3 on the 40-man.
I didn’t realize how much Lavistida’s performance deteriorated.
Lavastida has never been DFA’d before, so they wouldn’t need to release him. If he clears waivers, he’ll be outrighted to the minors (which would be a paper move in this case since he’s already at AA Akron).
Logan Allen pitched well in his major league debut. Excited to see the future Guardians burst on the scene.
With McKenzie out until the end of May and not knowing how long Civale will be out (again) and Gaddis mostly ineffective in his four starts (already sent down to Columbus) I doubt this will be just a brief stay for Logan T. With Plesac struggling as well, I would not be surprised to see Logan T stay for awhile.
Would love to see Logan Allen supplant Plesac. I’m done with that guy