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St. Paul Saints

It's Josh Allen's Turn, Saints Win Unprecedented Fourth Straight American Association Pointstreak Player of the Week Award

July 15, 2019 - American Association (AA)
St. Paul Saints News Release


ST. PAUL, MN - Next man up. Following Max Murphy getting his contract purchased by the Arizona Diamondbacks the St. Paul Saints offense needed other hitters to step up. Josh Allen appears to be one of those players to take the reins. His strong week helped him earn the American Association Pointstreak Player of the Week Award for the week of July 8-14. The Saints add to their own record of most consecutive Player of the Week Awards. This is the most Player of the Week Awards for the Saints since they won five in 2016.

Allen went 13-27 (.482) with three home runs and six RBI in seven games. He scored seven runs, had a double, walked four times and was hit by a pitch. Allen had a three-hit game in four of the seven contests for the Saints and hit two home runs and four RBI in the first game of the week in Winnipeg.

On the season, Allen is hitting .308 with 13 home runs and 35 RBI in 52 games. In 198 at bats he has scored 39 runs, slugged 12 doubles, one triple, has a .385 on base percentage, and a .576 slugging percentage, for a .961 OPS. He is currently tied for second in the league in home runs. Allen was selected as the starting second baseman in the All-Star Game that will take place at CHS Field on July 23. Allen's season has been highlighted by a 12-game hitting streak from June 13-24. He also set a career high by scoring a run in seven-straight from June 14-20.

The 28-year-old Allen began the 2018 season with the Saints and had a blistering start to the year. He was hitting .344 with four home runs and 11 RBI in 24 games. In 90 at bats he scored 17 runs, ripped six doubles, two triples, had a .439 on base percentage, and a .589 slugging percentage. After being inserted into the leadoff spot he hit safely in a career high 14 consecutive games, including an extra base hit in seven-straight from May 30-June 8. He tied a career high with two home runs on June 12 against the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks. He also played a nearly flawless second base committing just one error and leading all second baseman, at the time, with a .992 fielding percentage. He also finished his 24 games in the league first in total chances (126), put outs (55), and assists (70) among second baseman. On the offensive side, Allen was leading the league in being hit by a pitch (8) and was eighth in batting average.

Those eye-popping numbers caught the attention of the Mets who purchased Allen's contract, on June 14, and placed him at Double-A Binghamton. He hit .248 with two home runs and 20 RBI in 42 games with the Mets. In 153 at bats he scored 15 runs, smoked 12 doubles, had a .320 on base percentage, and a .366 slugging percentage. Allen hit safely in his first six games with the Mets, which gave him a 20-game hitting streak between the Saints and Mets. In his final game with the Mets, before a knee injury ended his season, he went 3-3, his first three-hit game at Double-A. Allen had a .980 fielding percentage in 38 games at second base.

Prior to joining the Saints, Allen spent his first four seasons with the Evansville Otters of the Frontier League and in 2017he hit .310 with a career high 15 home runs and 47 RBI in 94 games. In 345 at bats he scored a career high 83 runs, smacked 12 doubles, six triples, walked 66 times, stole 12 bases, had a .429 on base percentage and .510 slugging percentage for a .939 OPS. Allen was selected to the mid-season All-Star game, his third in four professional seasons, and as a Post-Season All-Star at second base. He finished tied for first in the Frontier League in runs, third in on base percentage, tied for fourth in triples and fifth in walks. The Otters made the playoffs, the third time in Allen's time with the team, but lost three-games-to-one in the first round to the Schaumburg Boomers.

Allen's season was highlighted by a two-home run and five RBI game on May 20 vs. Gateway. He had 10, three-hit games and a four-hit game on June 17 at Washington. Allen homered in back-to-back games three times, which included homering in four straight games from July 21-23. He had two home runs in the second game of a doubleheader on July 22 vs. Washington.

In 2016 Allen had a career year and was named the Frontier League MVP. He hit a franchise record .354 with nine homers and 46 RBI in 94 games. In 347 at bats he scored 75 runs, ripped a single-season franchise record 34 doubles, nine triples, stole a career high 29 bases, with 59 walks, a .458 on-base percentage, .582 slugging percentage, for an eye-popping 1.041 OPS. He helped guide the Otters to the Frontier League Championship. He was in the top five in nearly every major offensive category. He was first in total bases (202), doubles, extra-base hits (54), and slugging percentage, second in average, runs, hits (123), and on-base percentage, tied for second in triples, fourth in stolen bases, and fifth in walks.

Allen's 2016 season was highlighted with 14, three-hit games and three, four-hit games. He doubled in back-to-back games six times, which also included doubling in three-straight from September 2-4 and four straight from August 20-24. During that latter streak he collected three doubles on August 23 vs. Normal. Perhaps the most impressive number were his four stolen bases on June 23 at Florence.

In 2014 Allen was signed by the Otters out of a tryout camp and in his rookie season he hit .290 with five homers and 30 RBI in 67 games. He was selected to the All-Star Game and finished third in the league in stolen base percentage (.917). The Otters made the playoffs, but lost in a one game playoff to the Washington Wild Things.

Allen's second season saw him hit .259 with nine home runs and 48 RBI in 92 games.

For his career Allen finished as the Otters all-time leader in triples (19), stolen bases (76), and hit by pitches (51), second in games played (347), at bats (1,222), hits (374), doubles (70), RBI (171), runs (261), and total bases (596), and third in home runs (38) and walks (191). Allen played all 347 games in his career at second base and has a .975 career fielding percentage.

Allen graduated from the University of West Florida, where he spent one season, his senior year, and hit .337 with two home runs and 19 RBI.

This is the fourth Player of the Week Award for the Saints in 2019 and their sixth weekly honor of the season. Murphy earned two Player of the Week awards, June 16-23 and July 1-7, Brady Shoemaker earned the honor from June 24-30 and pitcher Eddie Medina earned the Pitcher of the Week award in back-to-back weeks for the weeks of May 20-26 and May 27-June 2.

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