07/25/17 / Padres360.com / @Padres360
By Wayne McBrayer and Craig Martin from Lake Elsinore, CA
Drafted in the 8th Round of the 2015 MLB Draft by the Boston Red Sox out of the IMG Academy out of Bradenton, FL, and was quickly signed for $725,000.00 . Logan was assigned to Rookie Ball with the Gulf Coast League Red Sox where he posted a .90 ERA with 1 walk and 24 strikeouts in 20 innings pitched. Logan made one start with the A- Lowell Spinners where he game up 1 run in 4 innings.
On November 15, Logan was traded by the Boston Red Sox along with Shortstop Javier Guerra, Second Baseman Carlos Asuaje and Outfielder Manuel Margot to the San Diego Padres for closer Craig Kimbrel. Logan spent the 2016 season pitching for the ALZ Padres, A- Tri-City Dust Devils and A Fort Wayne and posted a combined 3-5 record with a 3.75 ERA. In 62 1/3 innings, Logan walked 24 while striking out 59 batters.
For 2017, Logan was assigned to A- Fort Wayne and was promoted to A+ Lake Elsinore, where he has continued to improve under the guidance of pitching coach Glendon Rusch. We caught up with Logan receltly and chatted about his career up to this point…
Padres360: Padres360, we’re here today talking to Logan Allen. Logan it’s a pleasure talking to you.
Logan Allen: Absolutely, it’s good to be here.
Padres360: I saw you were born in Florida, and grew up in North Carolina. What was your team growing up?
Logan Allen: Okay, so I was an Atlanta Braves fan for the most part growing up. My pitching coach was a guy named Darren Holmes, who’s actually the bullpen pitching coach for the Colorado Rockies. He grew up around Smoltz and some guys like that through him, so I was a big Braves fan growing up. That was the closest team to me in North Carolina, and yeah, I was all Braves all the time.
Padres360: Who was your favorite player of all time? Was it one of those, the Braves or did you have anybody else you really liked?
Logan Allen: I loved John Smoltz and Chipper Jones was like my favorite hitter of all time. I love Chipper, I love watching Chipper play. Once I started watching Jon Lester when he started going through his system, that was my favorite player with the Red Sox growing up.
Padres360: What is your earliest memory that you have as a baseball player?
Logan Allen: Oh gosh. Honestly my oldest memory is just about playing catch with my dad, just begging him to come out and play with me when I was younger and throw. Once I coach pitched and all that stuff started whenever everybody was a good hitter, it made baseball even more fun than it is now. That’s probably my oldest memory.
Padres360: At what point did you realize or transition to the fact that you were going to be a pitcher? When did you fall in love with that?
Logan Allen: In high school I just hit for the most part, I didn’t pitch very much my first years of high school, and I almost played outfield in college, but I picked up pitching with Darren and a guy named Donnie Suttles and it turned out to be a pretty good change. Then I went down to the school in Florida, the IMG Academy is when I took it very serious. As soon as I started I fell in love with pitching immediately, and I just knew if I ever had a chance to play baseball for the rest of my life I was going to be pitching.
Padres360: How old were you at the academy? I saw a story that indicated that you had left home and you were actually at the academy for a while? How long were you there?
Logan Allen: I went to a three week summer league thing at one point in my freshman year, and then when I was in North Carolina, they reached out to me to go to their boarding school program, unbelievable facility and everything like that. I went down there for my junior and senior year, graduated from IMG Academy in Bradenton, and it was a great experience. The facility’s right next to the beach. It was definitely a pretty surreal experience but very difficult to leave home and be as far away from my family as I was.
Logan Allen IMG Academy Jeff Dahn Feb 6, 2015
Padres360: Then you get drafted by the Boston Red Sox. What was it like first pitching there wearing the Red Sox gear in the minors?
Logan Allen: It was awesome, and I can’t thank them enough for giving me the opportunity in drafting me. I went to Fenway Park right after I got drafted and just seeing everything, and taking in the fans they had there, it was an unbelievable experience. It was fun to wear that uniform for a while, and I was just as excited to be a part of the San Diego Padres when I got traded.
Padres360: So how did you find out you got traded over here to San Diego?
Logan Allen: Well I was actually in Fort Meyer where the training for the Red Sox were with a couple buddies I played with, and I got a call from our head of the minor leagues, Ben Crockett, and he told me, “Logan, you’ve had a great year, we’re really thankful for all you’ve done. We’re just letting you know you’ve been involved in a big league trade.” And I said, “Oh, good one.” I didn’t really believe it, I was a little skeptical, thought he was just messing with me. Then I found out they had the Trea Turner rule change, and about 20 minutes later I was on TV and I saw Manny and Javier and Carlos on there with me, and then shortly after A.J. Preller gave me a call and that’s where it all began.
Padres360: What have you thought of pitching in the Cal League so far? What do you think of the league itself?
Logan Allen: It’s definitely a tougher league than I was used to in the Midwest League. I’ve adjusted pretty well, it’s not as different as I thought it was gonna be. The ball definitely collides a little bit more here. Can’t make as many mistakes as you can at lower levels, but it’s not all that different. The travel’s great, the staff and everything here is unbelievable. I’m just happy to be here, to be honest.
Padres360: If you’re on your game, what pitch is working?
Logan Allen: Definitely the fastball, and just commanding down and showing that I can throw it inside and out, and then when I have a curve ball I can throw it first crack, and if I change up’s on it’s gonna be pretty hard to beat me.
Padres360: What is the one thing, because you have a really good manager here in Edwin Rodriguez, what is the one thing that you as a player think that a manager can do for you?
Logan Allen: He can help you make in-game adjustments, he can calm you down, he can tell you the rights and wrongs without blowing you up like some college coaches and things like that do. He’s very professional about everything and as long as he’s as professional as he acts around us all the time. He helps us adjust better, helps us play better, helps us play looser. That guy does an unbelievable job, and just in the short time I’ve been here he’s definitely the best manager I’ve ever had.
Lake Elsinore Storm – Edwin Rodriguez, Rebecca Herman, Wayne McBrayer
Padres360: He’s a class act.
Logan Allen: He is.
Padres360: All right, thank you so much, and Craig is going ask you a couple questions that are food related. Thank you so much.
Logan Allen: Thank you.
After our player questions, Chef Craig talked to Logan Allen about all things food.
Leave a Reply