Let's Talk About Brandon Allen

In case I'm not the only one who thinks we have had a magical player, who has good at-bats and actually hits the ball toward the walls and stuff, drop out of nowhere to land on our team, I thought I would do a quick introduction in case you wanted to know more. I remember the first time I saw him on the A's; I noticed his swing. It's so... un-A's-like.

Brandon Allen joined the A's on July 31st; he was a part of the Brad Ziegler trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks, and in his first week with us, he's been nothing short of phenomenal. He's had good at-bats, he drives the ball; he has shown speed, defense; basically everything we have been looking for in a player, but just couldn't quite get. So, I guess the real question is: How long will it last?

Allen has had nearly 200 Major League at-bats in his young career. He's only 25 years old; he was born in Texas and drafted by the Chicago White Sox. He made his Major League Debut with Arizona in 2009, and his first 180 at-bats were not as impressive as his first week in Oakland. However, he did rack up 8 homeruns.

Allen batted .284 in Double-A, he OPS'd  .882, with 21 homeruns in 394 at-bats. In Triple-A, he batted .286 with a .856 OPS, hitting 59 homeruns in 921 at-bats. Will that translate up here? In case you are wondering about walks and strikeouts, in 3397 plate appearances in eight years in the minor leagues, Allen struck out 784 times. He walked 368 times. That is also fairly un-A's-like.

So what do you think? What have you noticed? Will Allen keep his position at first base for the rest of the year? Is this just a good week, or do we have something here? How many at-bats do you need to judge?

Any has anyone yet met him in person?

The A's try to recover from last night's loss tonight. Rich Harden gets the call. I'm sorry, but that still sounds weird.