Athletics call up top prospect Brett Harris, send Nick Allen to Triple-A

The Oakland Athletics have sent shortstop Nick Allen to Triple-A and recalled infielder Brett Harris ahead of Friday evening's matchup against the Marlins.

Harris is primarily a third baseman and is ranked 9th in the Athletics' system by MLB Pipeline. So far in 2024, he's hit .289/.418/.456 through 27 games at Triple-A Las Vegas.

Harris will make his major league debut tonight against the Marlins. Manager Mark Kotsay has him slotted in at third base and batting 9th in the A's lineup. He'll have the platoon advantage against Marlins' lefty Ryan Weathers.

Harris will replace shortstop Nick Allen on the active roster. Allen has had a poor start to 2024, hitting just .171/.227/.243 with 3 extra base hits in 77 plate appearances. Allen is a strong defensive shortstop but has not hit at all in parts of three seasons in Oakland.

In 732 plate appearances between 2022-2024, he has a 56 wRC+, meaning he's been 44% below league average. He has just 9 homers and 8 steals in 234 career games. No amount of defense can justify the .227 OBP he's posted this year.

To clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Harris, the Athletics moved Freddy Tarnok to the 60-day IL. Tarnok is recovering from hip surgery and isn't expected to return until later this summer.

In addition to those three moves, the A's also reinstated infielder JD Davis from the IL, as expected. Davis has spent the last three weeks on the IL with an adductor strain but looked solid in his rehab stint in Las Vegas this week.

In his return, Davis will likely focus on the right side of the infield both due to his recovery and also due to first baseman Ryan Noda's demotion earlier this week.

Davis has the capacity to handle first base and should get some work at DH as needed. Harris should see the bulk of his time come at third base. He'll work alongside Abraham Toro and Tyler Nevin, neither of whom are strong defenders at the hot corner.

Darell Hernaiz and Max Schuemann will likely handle the bulk of the playing time at shortstop in Allen's absence.