It’ll be the first stint overseas for the 27-year-old Allen — a former top prospect who’s now bounced to seven different MLB organizations in his career, appearing in the majors with four of them. Allen spent the 2024 season with the Diamondbacks, pitching 28 innings of 5.46 ERA ball in the majors and adding another 96 1/3 frames at the Triple-A level.

Allen breezed through the lower minors and had a terrific season between Double-A and Triple-A as a 21-year-old back in 2018, but his results both in the majors and in Triple-A have generally been subpar since that time. He altered his repertoire this past season, however, debuting a new splitter that seems to have caught the Dinos’ attention. The pitch generated strong results and drew positive grades from both Statcast and Sports Info Solutions. The Dinos mentioned it in their press release, wherein GM Seon-nam Lim noted that Allen is expected to join their rotation.

Allen heads over the the KBO for his age-28 season, giving him plenty of time to potentially parlay a strong showing in Asia into a big league return. He’d hardly be the first player to do so. Because Allen debuted in the majors less than a month after his 22nd birthday, he’s perhaps younger than many fans might expect of a journeyman who’s been with seven MLB organizations over a nearly decade-long pro career. If he can make further gains with that new split-changeup, it’s feasible that he could garner a look from big league clubs in future offseasons.

JUNE 13: Diamondbacks left-hander Logan Allen went unclaimed on outright waivers and has been assigned to Triple-A Reno, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He was designated for assignment over the weekend. Allen has been outrighted in the past and will thus have the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency.

The 27-year-old Allen, not to be confused with the Cleveland southpaw of the same name, appeared in a dozen games for the Diamondbacks and pitched 28 innings. He was tagged for an ugly 5.46 ERA in that time, though the bulk of the damage came in his final outing, when he surrendered six runs in a single inning of work against the Padres. Prior to that collapse, he’d tossed 27 frames of 3.67 ERA ball with a 16.9% strikeout rate, 7.6% walk rate and 44.8% ground-ball rate.

That marked Allen’s first MLB action since 2022. The former eighth-round pick at one point ranked among the sport’s 100 best prospects on several publications and has been in multiple trades of note but has yet to solidify himself as a steady big league contributor. Originally drafted by Boston, he’s since suited up for San Diego, Cleveland and Baltimore in addition to his current run in Arizona, but he’s been hit hard, yielding a 5.79 ERA in 124 1/3 MLB innings.

Allen, 27, is not to be confused with the 25-year-old Guardians left-hander of the same name despite the fact that he too was once a fairly well-regarded prospect in Cleveland’s farm system. Acquired from the Padres in the three-team blockbuster that sent Yasiel Puig and Franmil Reyes to Cleveland, Trevor Bauer to Cincinnati, and Taylor Trammell to San Diego, Allen pitched only briefly for Cleveland in the majors prior to the 2021 season, where he struggled badly with a 6.26 ERA in 50 1/3 innings of work across 14 appearances (11 starts).

The peripherals matched that lackluster performance. Allen struck out just 16.7% of batters faced while walking 7.7% and allowing an eye-popping 22.2% of his fly balls to leave the yard for home runs. Even with a solid 45.1% groundball rate, those brutal results and the peripherals that indicated they were largely deserved left the Guardians to part ways with Allen in May of 2022. He was initially claimed off waivers by the Orioles, although he struggled through just three appearances with Baltimore before they too designated him for assignment. This time, he passed through waivers successfully and was assigned outright to the minors.

The lefty spent a few months in the Orioles minor league system before eventually getting released and signing with the Rockies on a minor league deal that August. He remained in Colorado into the 2023 season but was released in mid-July, though he found a job with the Mariners just weeks later. Across four organizations and two seasons, Allen struggled badly at the Triple-A level with a 5.77 ERA in 110 2/3 innings of work and never sniffed the majors after he was outrighted by the Orioles. Nonetheless, Allen was able to find a minor league pact with the Diamondbacks this winter. Unlike his past minor league deals, this time Allen found some success with a 3.00 ERA in 12 innings of work with the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Reno.

That was enough for the Snakes to decide to call Allen up to the majors as a long relief option in mid-April. He’s made 12 appearances for the Diamondbacks since then, often pitching as many as three or four innings at a time, and had generally impressed with a 3.67 ERA and 3.84 FIP through his first 11 outings as a Diamondback. Unfortunately, the lefty was torched for six runs on six hits (including a home run) and a walk in one inning of work against the Padres last night, a disastrous outing that ballooned his ERA to 5.46 and his FIP to 4.31. With Arizona in need of a fresh arm and Allen out of option years, that left Arizona to DFA him in order to get Henry, who has acted as optionable starting pitching depth for the Diamondbacks since his debut in 2022, onto the roster.

Arizona will now have one week to either trade Allen or attempt to pass him through waivers. If Allen clears waivers successfully, the Diamondbacks would be able to outright him to the minor leagues, although he’d have the right to reject such an assignment as a player who has already been outrighted previously in his career. It’s not inconceivable that a pitching-needy team would be willing to look past Allen’s rough outing against San Diego last night and take a chance on him based on his previous 11 appearances, although it’s also possible the lefty’s shake results both at Triple-A and in the majors prior to joining the Diamondbacks could turn otherwise intrigued clubs away.

It’ll be the first big league action since 2022 for the 26-year-old Allen (not to be confused by the other left-hander named Logan Allen, who solidified himself in the Guardians’ rotation with a strong rookie campaign in 2023).

The older Allen also pitched for Cleveland previously, to make matters more confusing. He’s a former eighth-round draft pick who’s appeared in parts of four big league seasons, working to a combined 5.89 ERA in 96 1/3 frames between Cleveland, San Diego and Baltimore. In a dozen innings with Reno, he’s pitched to a 3.00 ERA with nine strikeouts, three walks and a 50% ground-ball rate.

The “60-day” term on Rodriguez’s IL stint is retroactive to his original placement and does not reset to today. While Arizona had hoped he’d only miss a month originally, the veteran southpaw recently experienced renewed shoulder discomfort during a throwing session and had his rehab program paused. In light of that setback, it’s not especially surprising to see him pushed to the 60-day IL. His original placement was retroactive to March 25, meaning he’s now sidelined through at least Friday, May 24.

With Rodriguez now shelved for another five weeks at least, Arizona’s rotation will consist of Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Jordan Montgomery and Brandon Pfaadt in the top four spots. Montgomery has also yet to make his season debut but it scheduled to do so on Friday. Twenty-six-year-old righty Ryne Nelson currently holds the fifth spot, but he’s yielded eight runs in 13 2/3 innings this season and carries a 5.31 ERA in 157 2/3 frames dating back to last year. His grip on that rotation spot is not exactly iron-clad.

Allen, 26, is the older of the two Logan Allens with MLB experience. As with the current Guardians starter of the same name,  he was once a fairly well-regarded prospect in the Cleveland farm system. The 26-year-old Allen has yet to find much MLB success, however. Over three seasons in Cleveland, he pitched to a 5.45 ERA in 69 1/3 innings. The Guardians waived him in May 2022, where he was nabbed by the Orioles.

He made three relief appearances before Baltimore outrighted him from the 40-man roster. Those are Allen’s most recent MLB outings. He has spent the past year and a half in Triple-A. After finishing the 2022 campaign with the O’s, he split last year with the top affiliates of the Rockies and Mariners.

Allen struggled mightily with Colorado’s highest minor league team, allowing a 7.20 ERA through 45 frames. He found slightly better results after signing with Seattle around the All-Star Break. Over 14 appearances (10 starts) in the Mariner organization, he allowed 4.66 earned runs per nine innings. His 19.1% strikeout rate and 10.9% walk percentage over that stretch were still worse than average, however. That has generally been the case over parts of five Triple-A seasons, where Allen has a 6.04 ERA.

While he hasn’t found extended success in either the majors or Triple-A, Allen’s results up through Double-A were excellent. Evaluators credited him with an above-average to plus changeup during his time as a prospect. He’s a non-roster depth option who could start or work in long relief with the Aces to open the 2024 campaign.

Allen, 26, is a former Guardians southpaw who is not related to a current Cleveland pitcher of the same name. Seattle’s Allen has pitched in parts of four MLB campaigns, mostly with Cleveland. He has a 5.89 ERA through 96 1/3 MLB frames. He has a below-average 15.5% strikeout rate and a 9.6% walk percentage in that stretch.

The 6’3″ hurler was a fairly well-regarded prospect coming through the minor league ranks. He had strong numbers up through Double-A, including a 2.75 ERA at that level. Allen has yet to find much success beyond that point, allowing 6.35 earned runs per nine in parts of five Triple-A campaigns.

That includes a 7.20 ERA through 45 innings with the Rockies’ top affiliate earlier in the season. Allen signed a minor league deal with Colorado last August but had a rough time in an extremely hitter-friendly setting in Albuquerque. He was released two weeks ago.

Seattle has George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo and Bryan Woo in the rotation. Bryce Miller is on the injured list with a blister but expected to rejoin the rotation on Sunday. Allen isn’t going to crack that group if everyone’s healthy, but he’ll add an experienced upper minors depth option.

Not to be confused with current Guardians left-hander Logan T. Allen (born in 1998), the elder Allen also formerly pitched for Cleveland as well as San Diego and Baltimore from 2019-22.  Allen was a former top-100 prospect who was involved in two significant trades during his career — he was one of four prospects sent by the Red Sox to the Padres in the Craig Kimbrel deal in 2015, and he was part of the big three-team swap between San Diego, Cleveland, and Cincinnati at the 2019 trade deadline.

Allen has tossed 96 1/3 innings at the Major League level, and posted only a 5.89 ERA and a very low 15.5% strikeout rate.  The results haven’t been any better at Triple-A, as the lefty has a 6.35 ERA over 253 2/3 frames at the top minor league level.  This includes a 7.20 ERA over 45 innings with Triple-A Albuquerque this season, as Allen has only a 22.2% strikeout rate and a high 12.4% walk rate.

Even with the caveat that pitching in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League is no easy feat, Allen’s lack of results at Triple-A aren’t promising.  Still only 26 years old, his past track record could very well get him another look with another team on a minor league contract.  Speculatively, Allen might seem like a good candidate to pitch overseas, as working in an international league might help him get his career on track.

Allen, 25, was an eighth-round pick by the Red Sox back in 2016 and at times ranked among the better pitching prospects in multiple organizations. Heading into the 2019 season, he ranked among the game’s top 100 prospects on the lists published by each of Baseball America, MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus.

Things haven’t panned out for Allen in the Majors, however. He’s appeared in 33 big league game — 15 of them starts —  between San Diego, Cleveland and Baltimore but pitched to an unsightly 5.89 ERA in 96 1/3 frames. He’s punched out 15.5% of his opponents, walked 9.6% of them and kept 46.5% of batted balls against him on the ground. That’s a solid ground-ball rate, but both the walk rate and particularly the strikeout rate are well worse than the league average.

Allen posted sharp numbers all the way through the Double-A level but hasn’t found much in the way of continued success thereafter. The Rox are his third organization of the 2022 campaign, as he began the year with the Guardians before being designated for assignment and claimed by the Orioles in early May. Baltimore passed Allen through waivers after just three appearances on the big league roster, and he was released from the Orioles organization a week ago. He’s surrendered five runs in 7 2/3 Major League innings this year (5.87 ERA) and 23 runs in 24 1/3 frames at the Triple-A level (8.26).

Allen will give the Rockies some experienced depth in the upper minors and could eventually emerge as a big league option for an injury-depleted staff. Veteran righty Chad Kuhl recently returned from a hip injury, but the Rockies lost Antonio Senzatela to a torn ACL last week and also have Ryan Rolison and prospect Helcris Olivarez on the Major League 60-day injured list. Righty Peter Lambert, meanwhile, is on the minor league injured list and hasn’t pitched since June after experiencing renewed discomfort in his surgically repaired elbow.

Baltimore just claimed Allen off waivers from the Guardians this month. He came out of the bullpen three times for skipper Brandon Hyde, allowing a pair of runs on three hits and two walks through 1 2/3 innings. After that briefest of showings, the Orioles designated him for assignment on Tuesday. This time around, the Florida native made it through waivers unclaimed. Out of minor league option years, he had to stick on an active roster or be designated for assignment.

Allen has appeared in the majors in each of the past four seasons. At one time a highly-regarded pitching prospect, he’s been dealt from the Red Sox to the Padres (in the 2015 Craig Kimbrel deal) and from San Diego to Cleveland (in the 2019 deadline Trevor Bauer, Taylor Trammell three-team swap with the Reds). Allen appeared at the back of Baseball America’s top 100 prospect list the latter season, but he’s yet to find much big league success.

Over 96 1/3 career innings, he owns a 5.89 ERA with a below-average 15.5% strikeout rate. Allen has also struggled at the Triple-A level, but he’s posted quality numbers up through Double-A and has long intrigued evaluators with a four-pitch arsenal anchored by a quality changeup. He turns 25 next week, so there’s still plenty of time for Allen to pitch his way back onto an uncertain staff in Baltimore if he shows well with Norfolk.

Baltimore only claimed Logan, 24, off waivers from the Guardians 12 days ago. He appeared in three games with the O’s, allowing a pair of runs on three hits and two walks with one strikeout in just 1 2/3 innings. It’ll be a brief stop on the Orioles’ 40-man roster, and Baltimore will now have a week to trade Allen or attempt to pass him through outright waivers.

Selected by the Red Sox in the eighth round of the 2015 draft, Allen was once a well regarded pitching prospect who’s been involved in his fair share of notable trades. Boston shipped him to San Diego alongside Manuel Margot, Carlos Asuaje and Javy Guerra in the trade that brought Craig Kimbrel to the Sox. The Padres subsequently included Allen and Franmil Reyes as part of the return in the three-team trade that brought Mike Clevinger over from Cleveland.

Allen has gotten a look in parts of four big league seasons, seeing action in San Diego, Cleveland and Baltimore. He’s tallied 96 1/3 innings but has just a 5.89 ERA to show for it. Allen has missed plenty of bats in the minors but has only a 15.5% strikeout walk against an elevated 9.6% walk rate during his time at the big league level. He’s also out of minor league options, so any team that picks him up won’t be able to send him to the minors without first passing him through waivers.

As for the 26-year-old Vespi, he was an 18th-round pick by the O’s back in 2015 and will be making his big league debut the first time he gets into a game. He’s not considered to be among the organization’s top-end pitching prospects, but his strong performance in Norfolk has become hard to overlook. Vespi has fired 14 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run, striking out 21 of 52 batters (40.4%) against just three walks (5.8%) along the way.

Allen has a 4.50 ERA over six relief innings this season, and a 5.80 ERA, 15.7% strikeout rate, and 9.3% walk rate over 94 2/3 total MLB innings with the Padres and Guardians since 2019.  While not the largest of sample sizes, Allen also hasn’t pitched well at the Triple-A level, with only a 5.76 ERA over 156 1/3 frames of work at the top rung on the minor league ladder.  Allen has delivered more strikeouts in the minors than in the majors, but at both levels, keeping the ball in the park has been his most pressing issue.

More was expected from Allen at this point in his career, particularly since he drew top-100 prospect attention prior to the 2019 season.  This made him one of the key pieces involved in a noteworthy three-team swap between Cleveland, San Diego, and Cincinnati at the 2019 trade deadline, and the Guardians clearly eyed Allen as a possible future rotation piece.

With all of this in mind, Allen is still a few weeks away from his 25th birthday.  His entire prime could be ahead of him if a new club is able to harness his stuff, and it isn’t a shock that a rebuilding team like the Orioles quickly made a waiver claim.

Allen has worked mostly as a starter in the minors, while his big league appearances are an even 15-15 split between starts and relief appearances.  It seems likely that Baltimore will continue to explore Allen as a starting pitcher, and he could get some looks in the rotation in the near future given the depleted state of the O’s staff.  Ace John Means and swingman Chris Ellis have both been lost to season-ending injuries, while another swing option in Alexander Wells was also recently sidelined with a UCL injury.

In the short term, the Guardians have reduced their roster from 28 to 26 players in advance of tomorrow’s roster reduction deadline.  In the bigger picture, however, these moves could mark the organizational end of two players who (not long ago) were considered two possible building blocks.  Both Allen and Bradley were former top-100 ranked prospects, but that promise didn’t translate into consistent MLB success.  Allen and Bradley are both out of minor league options, so Cleveland had to expose them to the DFA wire in order to try and send either player to Triple-A.

Allen was an eighth-round pick for the Red Sox in 2015, and he has thus far been involved in two major trades in his young career.  Allen was one of the four prospects Boston sent to the Padres for Craig Kimbrel in November 2015, and Allen was then one of the seven names involved in the huge three-team swap between San Diego, Cincinnati, and Cleveland prior to the 2019 trade deadline.  That deal saw Cleveland end up with Franmil Reyes, Yasiel Puig, prospects Scott Moss and Victor Nova, plus Allen, who had made his Major League debut earlier that year with the Padres.

After the trade, Allen appeared in one game with his new team in 2019, then only three games in the shortened 2020 season.  Last year was Allen’s first semi-extended look at the big league level, and he posted a 6.26 ERA, 16.7% strikeout rate, and 7.7% walk rate over 50 1/3 innings.  That walk rate was a positive sign considering some of the control problems Allen had faced in the minors, but as had been the case for Allen at Triple-A, his time in the majors was hampered by the long ball.  The southpaw allowed 12 home runs over his 50 1/3 frames.

Between the lack of success in both the majors and at Triple-A Columbus, Allen became an expendable piece for a Guardians organization that is brimming with young talent.  The same could be said of Bradley, as Owen Miller and Josh Naylor have emerged as the Guards’ preferred options at first base only about a season after Bradley was seen as a first baseman of the future.

A third-round pick in the 2014 draft, Bradley displayed plenty of power in the minor leagues, even if his batting averages and on-base numbers weren’t always as impressive.  A big Triple-A season in 2019 earned him a call-up and a 15-game cup of coffee in Cleveland, but Bradley didn’t see any game action at all in 2020 — the minor league season was canceled, and the Guardians never promoted Bradley from their alternate training site.

Cleveland fans were notably impatient to see Bradley get a look in 2021, especially with Jake Bauers struggling as the team’s regular first baseman.  Once Bradley finally got his chance, however, he hit a modest .208/.294/.445 with 16 home runs in 279 PA.  His power was still apparent, but Bradley struck out 99 times, and particularly struggled against left-handed pitching.  This season, Bradley had only two hits in 17 at-bats, striking out nine times.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see either player taken via waiver claim, or for another club to work out a trade with the Guardians.  Both players are still young (both have May birthdays, with Allen turning 25 this month and Bradley 26), and they have each shown enough flashes of promise that a new team might think the flaws can be fixed.

It’s possible Allen lands a spot in a bullpen that could also include Sam Hentges and Anthony Gose as left-handed options. Allen has worked primarily as a starter throughout his professional career, though. He’s yet to find much big league success, posting a 5.89 ERA/5.19 SIERA across 88 2/3 career innings, but he appeared on top 100 prospect lists at Baseball America and MLB Pipeline heading into 2019 and has excellent numbers up through Double-A.

Meisel also looks at the position player group in a piece that’ll be of interest to Cleveland fans. Notably, he points out that the club will likely have to add a catcher to the roster before the start of the season, with only Austin Hedges and prospect Bryan Lavastida (who has scant Triple-A experience) currently on the 40-man. The Guardians brought in veteran Sandy León on a minor league deal in November. He currently seems the favorite for the #2 job behind Hedges, but he’d have to be formally selected to the 40-man roster once the team breaks camp.

More notes from around the league:

• After missing nearly two full seasons on account of a February 2020 Tommy John surgery, Luis Severino returned to the Yankees late last season. He made four regular season appearances in relief, tallying a combined six innings, before working 1 1/3 frames during the Wild Card game loss to the Red Sox. Severino told Andy Martino of SNY this week (Twitter link) that he’s been throwing bullpen sessions and remains on track to return to the starting rotation in 2022, as expected. It’s not clear how many innings New York can bank on from Severino, who also only logged twelve frames in 2019 due to shoulder issues. They’ll no doubt be cautious with the 27-year-old righty’s workload, but Severino would be a highly valuable piece of the Yankees pitching staff if he’s able to return at peak form on a rate basis. In his last two healthy seasons (2017-18), he posted a 3.18 ERA with an excellent 28.8% strikeout rate.
• The 2021 campaign was a massive struggle for Keston Hiura. The former ninth overall pick struck out in an untenable 39.1% of his plate appearances, and the Brewers accordingly optioned him to Triple-A Nashville on multiple occasions. It marked the second straight year of struggles for Hiura, who burst onto the MLB scene with a .303/.368/.570 showing in 348 plate appearances as a rookie in 2019. Will Sammon of the Athletic wrote this week that the right-handed hitter is working with a longtime personal coach to simplify his mechanics and tone down his leg kick in an effort to improve his contact rate. With Kolten Wong and Rowdy Tellez in place at second and first base, respectively, the Brewers aren’t likely to rely on Hiura as an everyday option out of the gate. Last fall, president of baseball operations David Stearns suggested he could see some time in the outfield to offer manager Craig Counsell more flexibility in working him into the lineup at multiple positions.

Rosario has been bothered by abdominal issues for the last week, and after he was an early removal from Monday’s game, an IL placement was deemed necessary to give the outfielder a chance to fully heal.  With a .309/.330/.489 slash line over his last 100 plate appearances, Rosario is finally starting to heat up at the plate, and his absence will remove another bat from the struggling Cleveland lineup.

Signed to a one-year, $8MM free agent deal last winter, Rosario’s first two months with the Tribe were rough, resulting in an overall .254/.296/.389 slash line in 306 PA despite his success over the last four weeks.  The dropoff in slugging is of particular concern, as Rosario was (if anything) a power-first player during the previous four seasons with the Twins.  Since Rosario has never posted good hard-hit ball numbers or taken many walks, the lack of power has curtailed Rosario’s offensive production, though his numbers in June provide some hope that he can get on track in the second half of the season.

A platoon of Daniel Johnson and Oscar Mercado could be the Tribe’s top option to fill in for Rosario in the outfield, and even if Rosario is able to return from the IL pretty quickly, it’s fair to assume that Cleveland will continue to explore trading for an outfielder as the deadline approaches.  The Indians are 42-40 but still within striking distance of the postseason, 6.5 games behind the White Sox in the AL Central and 4.5 games back of a wild card berth.  Between a lack of hitting and a bunch of injuries within the rotation, however, the Cleveland front office has a lot of needs to address while at the same time keeping payroll in check and (as always) keeping an eye towards the future.  If the team slumps over the next two weeks, the Tribe’s deadline activity is likely to lean more towards selling than buying, though the Indians have often tried to accomplish both goals in multi-player trades over the last few years.

DJ Johnson inked a minor league deal over the winter, and now looks on the verge of his first big league action since the 2019 season.  After posting a 4.88 ERA over 31 1/3 innings with the Rockies in 2018-19, Johnson played in Japan in 2020, and was also in the mix for a spot on the U.S. Olympic baseball team at the upcoming Summer Games.

With Allen out of the rotation for now, it’s not clear who will step into the fifth spot. Righty Cal Quantrill and lefty Sam Hentges are possible options, and Hoynes notes that Hentges was stretched out to 85 pitches at the alternate site before being recalled and plugged into the team’s bullpen. Cleveland had an off-day yesterday, but the Indians are embarking on a stretch of 10 straight days with games, so they’ll need a fifth starter this coming Tuesday.

A few more notes out of Cleveland…

• The Indians received poor news on a pair of their top pitching prospects, Zack Meisel of The Athletic reports (via Twitter). Right-hander Carlos Vargas will miss the 2021 season after recently undergoing Tommy John surgery, while fellow righty and 2018 No. 35 overall pick Ethan Hankins has been sidelined by an elbow injury of his own that is currently being evaluated by team doctors. Vargas ranks 15th among Indians prospects at FanGraphs, 17th at MLB.com and 18th at Baseball America. Hankins respectively lands 12th, 10th, and ninth on those same rankings. Neither pitcher was likely to emerge in the Majors this season, as Vargas hadn’t pitched above short-season Class-A and Hankins hadn’t progressed beyond A-ball himself. Still, it’s a noted setback for a pair of promising arms who’ll now see their timeline to the big leagues pushed back — by at least a full season in the case of Vargas.
• Top organizational prospect Nolan Jones will see the bulk of his time at his natural position, third base, in Triple-A to begin the season, but VP of player development James Harris tells Mandy Bell of MLB.com that Jones will also see work at first base and in the outfield in order to improve his versatility. “…[W]e just don’t know where the opportunity will be,” Harris says of working Jones at multiple positions. Both first base and the outfield have been much weaker spots in the Cleveland lineup than third base in recent seasons — in part due to Jose Ramirez’s emergence as an MVP-caliber talent but also due to a generally lackluster collection of hitters in a cobbled-together mix in the outfield and at first base. Jake Bauers has been among the game’s least-productive hitters at first base this season, and the Indians’ piecemeal approach to the outfield has again resulted in sub-par production. Indians outfielders have combined for a lowly 83 wRC+ in 2021, which ranks 23rd in MLB. Their first basemen are 29th of 30 by that same measure, checking in at just 58. Jones entered the season widely regarded as one of MLB’s top 50 overall prospects.