The Athletics on Monday traded their 2024 Opening Day shortstop to the Atlanta Braves for a pitching prospect.<\/p>\n
Nick Allen is headed to the Peach State for right-hander Jared Johnson.<\/p>\n
Allen, a known defensive specialist, was selected No. 81 overall by the A\u2019s in the 2017 MLB Draft. After climbing his way up the A\u2019s minor-league ladder, Allen debuted with the big-league club in April 2022, where he struggled to stick because of hitting woes.<\/p>\n
The 26-year-old slashed just .175\/.216\/.247 with 17 hits over 41 starts during the 2024 MLB season and has a .254 career on-base percentage to show for three years\u2019 worth of at-bats, or 760 plate appearances. Allen also held a promising .431 OBP over 81 games with the Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators in 2024 but couldn\u2019t translate his success to MLB.<\/p>\n
The move makes sense for the A\u2019s, considering top prospect Jacob Wilson appears to be their shortstop of the future. Netting a prospect in return for Allen seemingly was a bonus, as the A\u2019s only other option for shedding him was through waivers.<\/p>\n
Johnson, meanwhile, is an enticing prospect for West Sacramento\u2019s newest baseball team.<\/p>\n
Atlanta selected the 23-year-old No. 427 overall in the 2019 draft. Johnson spent the entire 2024 season in High-A Rome and was Atlanta\u2019s No. 20 overall prospect, according to FanGraphs. Strictly out of the bullpen, Johnson held a serviceable 2.60 ERA with 61 strikeouts over 52 innings, also posting 1.31 WHIP and ground-out\/air-out of 2.06.<\/p>\n
Johnson likely will start the 2025 season in High-A ball — this time, with the A\u2019s Lansing Lugnuts — before the club figures out what to do with him. As for Allen, he would be lucky to call Truist Park home and likely will start with the Braves\u2019 Triple-A Stripers in Gwinnett County, Georgia.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the trade is the first of many for the A’s. Earlier in November, president of baseball operations David Forst said the A’s would prioritize trades over free agency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Athletics traded shortstop Nick Allen to the Atlanta Braves on Monday for right-handed pitching prospect Jared Johnson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":7374,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[71,313],"class_list":["post-7373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-nick-allen"],"yoast_head":"\n