Nicholas Ryan Allen (born October 8, 1998) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

and

second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

for the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

. Allen made his MLB debut in 2022.

Amateur career

Allen attended Francis Parker School in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, where he played

. During his freshman year, he committed to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

. As a junior in 2016, he slashed .469/.570/.816. In 2017, his senior year, Allen hit .297 with two home runs, ten doubles, and 23 stolen bases. For his high school career, he had a

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...

of .963. After his senior year, he was selected by the

in the third round of the

2017 Major League Baseball draft The 2017 Major League Baseball draft began on June 12, 2017. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The first 36 picks, including the first round and compensatory picks, were broadcast on MLB Network on June 12, while the remai ...

. He signed for $2 million.

Professional career

Oakland Athletics

After signing with Oakland, Allen made his professional debut with the

Rookie-level Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National L ...

Arizona League Athletics The Arizona Complex League Athletics are a Minor League Baseball team based in Mesa, Arizona, which plays as a Rookie-level team in the Arizona Complex League and has served as a farm team for the Athletics organization since 1988. They play thei ...

, hitting .254 with one home run and 14 RBI over 35 games. Allen spent the 2018 season with the

Beloit Snappers The Beloit Sky Carp are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. They are located in Beloit, Wisconsin, and play their home games at ABC Supply Stadium. They previously played at Harry C ...

of the Single–A

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

with whom he batted .239 with 34 RBI and 24 stolen bases over 121 games. In 2019, he began the year with the

Stockton Ports The Stockton Ports are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Athletics. They are located in Stockton, California, and are named for the city's seaport. The team plays its home games at Banner I ...

of the High–A

California League The California League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in California. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following Major Leagu ...

with whom he was named an All-Star. He was placed on the

injured list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 season, it was known as the disabled list (DL). General guidelines ...

in late June after suffering a leg injury, and missed the remainder of the season. Over 72 games with Stockton, Allen slashed .292/.363/.434 with three home runs, 25 RBI, and 13 stolen bases. He was selected to play in the

Arizona Fall League The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season baseball league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are filled ...

for the

Mesa Solar Sox The Mesa Solar Sox are a baseball team that plays in the East Division of the Arizona Fall League. They play their home games in Mesa, Arizona, at Sloan Park, which is also the spring training facility of the Chicago Cubs. The team was establi ...

following the season. Allen did not play a minor league game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. To begin the 2021 season, Allen was assigned to the

Midland RockHounds The Midland RockHounds are a Minor League Baseball team based in Midland, Texas. The team, which plays in the Texas League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Athletics major league club. The RockHounds play in Momentum Bank Ballpark, which ope ...

of the

Double-A Central The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

. He was placed on the temporarily inactive list twice during the season while participating in Olympic competition. After returning from the Olympics in mid-August, Allen was promoted to the

Las Vegas Aviators The Las Vegas Aviators, formerly known as the Las Vegas 51s and Las Vegas Stars, are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Athletics. They are located in Summerlin South, Nevada, a comm ...

of the

Triple-A West The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Base ...

. Over 89 games played between the two clubs, Allen slashed .288/.346/.403 with six home runs, 41 RBI, and 12 stolen bases. On November 19, 2021, Oakland added Allen to their

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...

to protect him from the

Rule 5 draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

. He returned to Las Vegas to begin the 2022 season. On April 18, 2022, Allen was added to Oakland's roster as a COVID-related substitute. He made his major league debut the next day as the starting second baseman. On April 22, he collected his first career hit, a single off of

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

reliever

Dillon Tate Dillon Michael Tate (born May 1, 1994) is an American professional baseball pitcher in the Toronto Blue Jays organization. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles. Tate played college baseball at the Uni ...

. On June 21, Allen hit his first major league home run, a two-run shot off of

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

starter

Marco Gonzales Marco Elias Gonzales (born February 16, 1992) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals, Seattle Mariners and Pittsburgh Pirates. He att ...

. In 100 games during his season, he slashed .207/.256/.291 with four home runs, 19 RBI, and three stolen bases. Allen made 106 appearances for Oakland in 2023, batting .221/.263/.287 with four home runs, 20 RBI, and five stolen bases. He played in 41 contests for Oakland in 2024, hitting .175/.216/.247 with one home run and four RBI.

Atlanta Braves

On November 11, 2024, Allen was traded to the

in exchange for minor league pitcher Jared Johnson. During the 2025 season, Allen began wearing goggles to correct astigmatism.

International career

Allen competed for a spot on the

United States national baseball team The United States national baseball team, also known as Team USA, represents the United States in international level baseball competitions. The team is currently ranked 5th in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. The United S ...

in advance of the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

and was subsequently named to the roster of the national team for the Americas Qualifying Event. After the national team qualified, he was named to the Olympics roster on July 2. Following the Olympic competition, during which the United States won a silver medal, Allen was named Best Defensive Player. For the tournament, he batted .286 with three extra-base hits.

Personal

Allen is married to Savannah Boone, daughter of former professional baseball player

Bret Boone Bret Robert Boone (born April 6, 1969) is an American former professional baseball second baseman who is a hitting coach for the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball (MLB). During his career, Boone was a three-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glo ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Nick Living people 1998 births Baseball players from San Diego Major League Baseball infielders Oakland Athletics players Atlanta Braves players Arizona League Athletics players Beloit Snappers players Stockton Ports players Mesa Solar Sox players Midland RockHounds players Las Vegas Aviators players United States national baseball team players Baseball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic baseball players for the United States Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in baseball Francis Parker School (San Diego) alumni