Atlanta Braves Getting the Most Out of Former A's Shortstop

Not long after the Oakland Athletics selected Nick Allen in the third round of the 2017 MLB Draft, he was considered the team's long-term solution at shortstop. After Marcus Semien departed via free agency and Elvis Andrus held the position for a year in 2021, it was Allen's time to take over.

Only, his bat didn't quite develop at the big-league level the way the club had hoped, and he ended up batting .209 with a .254 OBP in 247 games with the A's spread over three seasons with the club.

In his rookie campaign, his defense was as advertised, and even though he only made it into 100 games, he played well enough that he should have been in the Gold Glove conversation at season's end. He finished with +8 Outs Above Average, which ranked him No. 8 among shortstops over the course of a full season.

That defense was always special.

In the two years that followed, 2023 and 2024, the defense wasn't as sterling and the bat got progressively worse, with Allen ultimately batting .175 with a .216 OBP across 41 games last year. His defense was also below league average.

This past offseason, with Jacob Wilson set to take over as the A's new shortstop of the future, Allen became expendable. He was traded to the Atlanta Braves back in November for 24-year-old right-hander Jared Johnson, who suffered an elbow injury this spring and has yet to pitch in the minors for the Athletics.

Allen, meanwhile, has picked up the pace at the plate with the Braves, and has recaptured the defense that once set him apart. With the glove, he has accrued +10 Outs Above Average, tops among MLB shortstops or any other position for that matter. His OAA ranks him in the 100th percentile.

But even his bat has been a bit better this season. While he's still well below league average, holding a 76 wRC+ (100 is league average), he's batting a solid .262 with a .324 on-base. He still isn't slugging homers, but he's producing enough from the No. 9 spot in a pretty solid Atlanta lineup that still has former A's Matt Olson and Sean Murphy.

Atlanta also has former A's prospect Grant Holmes in the starting rotation, truly giving people a glimpse at what the 2020 A's were building, and what could have been with a little investment in the club.

One of the reasons for Allen's turnaround is that he has started "wearing goggles this year to fight against the astigmatism that affected his vision, especially during night games." Seeing is a pretty good tool to have in the toolbox. It's a wonder the A's missed that one.

They've pulled a lot of the tricks from Major League out of the bag during the relocation process, but giving a player glasses to improve their performance wasn't one of them. Apparently it could have been.

Another reason for Allen's turnaround, though a bit less fun, is that his BABIP still sits at .340, while the highest he'd produced previously was a .253. In fact, most of his Baseball Savant page is filled with deep blue bars, like a barrel% that sits in the first percentile, and an average exit velocity that's in the fourth.

The league average BABIP this season is .290, and Allen's expected batting average (xBA) is .232. If his production begins to dip from its current level, and he approaches a wRC+ around 50, the Braves could have a very interesting decision to make, since Allen's glove has been the best in baseball so far this season.

In terms of fWAR, he ranks No. 16 among shortstops with a 0.9. While that's not outstanding, it's a pretty darn good return for Atlanta in that trade. He's been as valuable on the whole as Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz, or Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson, both of whom rely on offense a bit more.

It's still fairly early in the season, but it's nice to see Nick Allen get a shot somewhere else, because that glove was always special.