Allen is going to be a really really exciting player in this deal, possibly moreso than Franmil. Top of the rotation potential, plus curve and a new Vulcan changeup:
Logan Allen, San Diego Padres (Vulcan)
“I had a buddy,
Grant Holmes, who said he was messing around with a Vulcan change. I said, ‘What’s that?’ Basically, you pretty much split the ball with your middle and rings fingers, and throw it just like a fastball.
“I toyed around with grips, feeling the laces and getting the ball a little deeper in my hand. I literally threw it with all of my arm speed, and it was dropping. It was tumbling. It opened up a whole new door for me that I’d never thought of going through.
“My first year throwing it was 2017, when I went back to Fort Wayne. I’d messed around with it in the offseason, then brought it to spring training. Our staff loved it. Quite a few hitters I’ve pitched against in the minor leagues have said it’s one of the harder pitches to pick up, and to hit.
“I was never able to get the feel for a circle change, but I also never really tried a conventional split. I never liked the feeling of the ball between my index and middle fingers. I was way more comfortable throwing the Vulcan change. I don’t know why. My hands aren’t very big, and for some reason the Vulcan just fits them better.
“Chris Paddack throws a version of it. His is a little different. It fades, almost like a regular four-seam change. It’s a very good changeup, but it’s not the kind of pitch I wanted to throw. I wanted to throw something with a little tumble that I could land for a strike and surprise the hitter, or that I could bury in the dirt.
“It’s not always the same pitch. I’ll split it more sometimes, and there’s how hard I grip it, and how deep it is in my hand. If I pronate, I can get it to fade a little bit. If I throw it straight over the top, I can get it to go straight down, almost like a hard curveball. Sometimes it will cut or knuckle. It varies in shape, but it’s effective nonetheless.”