Brandon Allen has been called up from Triple-A Louisville to replace Robert Stephenson on the Cincinnati Reds roster. The 30-year-old has spent parts of four seasons in the Majors Leagues, most recently in 2012 with the Rays and Athletics. In 389 career big league plate appearances he’s a .203/.290/.375 hitter with 42 walks and 137 strikeouts.
He’s spent a lot of time at first base, but he’s also go experience in both outfield corners. I wouldn’t expect Allen to be on the roster for long, just until it’s time to put Anthony DeSclafani into the rotation on Sunday. Allen does add a power bat to the bench in the short term though, something that they may need against the Pirates over the next few days from the left side.
Allen needed to be added to the 40-man roster in order to be called up, but the Cincinnati Reds were already under the 40-player limit, so no corresponding move needed to be made in order to bring him up to the big league club.