The Diamondbacks announced this morning that they’ve designated left-hander Logan Allen for assignment. Lefty Tommy Henry was recalled to the majors in a corresponding move to replace Allen on the club’s active roster.
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.
