Cleveland Guardians Top 30 Prospects: #7 Logan Allen

‎‏The Cleveland Guardians received some attention on the national scale during the rollout of various top 100 prospects lists. Featuring some familiar names from the past few seasons and a couple of newcomers the Guardians landed between five and eight prospects from each outlet. It may surprise some of you to hear that the four most common newcomers from Cleveland’s system among top 100 lists were all pitchers.The Cuyahoga Pitching Factory LLC has been on an absolute heater drafting college arms, adding velocity, and bringing out the best of their talents, but not everyone climbing the farm is a flamethrower even with an additional tick or two from college. Cleveland values command and experience above all else, and adding velocity is just an added perk to the arms in their system, but for some, it makes a world of difference.Logan Allen (no, not that one) is my 7th-ranked Guardians prospect, and while a bump in velocity has been a good thing for the southpaw there’s much more to his game than an improved fastball. Allen, 24, was a second-round pick by Cleveland in the 2020 MLB draft from Florida International where the Panthers experimented with him as a two-way player. Allen earned several Conference USA Pitcher of the Week awards, appeared on a few awards watchlists, and owns the seventh-most strikeouts in a single season in Panthers program history (120), and the highest single-season K/9 in school history (12.9).It only makes sense that Allen would be on the Guardians’ radar, and he made an immediate impact when he debuted for the organization in 2021. Allen appeared in 21 games (19 starts) between High-A Lake County and Double-A Akron covering 111.1 innings with a 9-0 record, a 2.26 ERA, 0.925 WHIP, 26 walks (6%) to 143 strikeouts (33.2%) and not much drop off in his 12 games for Akron. It was an electrifying debut for Allen, and the momentum he built in 2021 lead to him reaching Triple-A Columbus in his second professional season.[embed]https://twitter.com/MLBPipeline/status/1555267280585560065?s=20[/embed]On paper 2022 was a tough year for Allen, but we’ll get into the specifics in a moment. Allen split this past year between Akron and Columbus, making 27 starts with a 9-7 record over 132.2 innings, a 4.75 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, and 51 walks (9.1%) to 177 strikeouts (31.5%). Despite the spike in ERA, WHIP and his walk rates there were still encouraging signs for Allen who still posted an elite 31.5% strikeout rate (12.0 K/9) that was still 27% in his 14 starts with the Clippers. And while it can’t take the blame for everything that happened to Allen in 2022 he suffered some incredibly awful BABIP luck with opposing hitters posting a .316 BABIP in 13 games for Akron and .354 in Columbus. So what have the Guardians done with Allen and why, after a statistically subpar season, has he wound up on top 100 lists?Allen utilizes a four-pitch mix featuring a fastball that sits 90-93 (up from 89-91 in college), a filthy split-changeup in the low-80s range, a slider that sits 77-82, and a new addition in 2022; a cutter to give Allen an additional weapon against right-handed hitters. Not only is Allen enjoying an uptick in velocity and a new pitch since joining the Guardians, he’s also changed how he attacks hitters.[embed]https://twitter.com/MLBPipeline/status/1537609473367363584?s=20[/embed]As a softer-throwing college arm, Allen relied on the split-change as his out pitch to get whiffs and weak contact when he needed it, but Allen now uses his newfound velocity and surprising extension from his 6 foot 190-pound frame to generate whiffs up in the zone with the fastball. His follow-through carries him lower down the mound where his lower release point purely due to his height creates rising action with good backspin, helping it play up with his excellent command.Allen will likely begin 2023 back in Columbus where his luck hopefully rebounds, but he also continues to show steady growth. He possesses two plus-pitches in the split-change and slider, and with the fastball playing above its weight class he should make a push to be an emergency option for the Guardians big league rotation should the need arise. A little extra seasoning with the Clippers to help correct the walk numbers is more than welcome since he’s progressed quickly through the system, and the strikeout numbers are real.Allen has middle of the rotation written all over him with a good track record of health and some incredibly fun stuff. Barring injuries to the Guardians rotation I’d be shocked if he debuted before rosters expand in September, but he’ll be one of the first pitchers added to the 40-man when the time comes since they’ll have to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft next winter. In the meantime, I’ll be retweeting every video of his split-change I can find in the 2023 season, and there should be plenty of that content.The List so Far:8. Chase DeLauter9. Angel Martinez10. Cody Morris11. Justin Campbell12. Jose Tena13. Xzavion Curry14. Gabriel Arias15. Jaison Chourio16. Will Brennan17. Joey Cantillo18. Juan Brito19. Nate Furman20. Petey Halpin21. Parker Messick22. Doug Nikhazy23. Tanner Burns24. Joe Lampe25. Isaiah Greene26. Jake Fox27. Jhonkensy Noel28. Jack Leftwich29. Trenton Denholm30. Peyton Battenfield