American Association Daily provides insights, features, and recaps of the action from around the American Association of Professional Baseball League, as well as player and coaching profiles and transactions. In today’s edition, This Week in the Association and the Minor League Sports Report name Kane County Cougars infielder Josh Allen as American Association Player of the Week for Week 16 of the 2024 season.

Cougars Infielder Josh Allen Named Player of the Week

On Monday, This Week in the Association and the Minor League Sports Report Kane County Cougars infielder Josh Allen as the Player of the Week for Week 16 of the 2024 season. Allen had an impressive week, hitting .545 with four home runs and 13 RBI.

The Cougars took on the Cleburne Railroaders in all six games, and Allen was spectacular in the series. He opened on Tuesday going 1-3 with his lone hit being a three-run home run. Allen added two walks and a stolen base in the game. The next night he walked twice while going hitless in both of his at-bats.

Allen then caught fire. On Thursday, the infielder went 3-5 with a run scored, a double, and two RBI. On Friday, Allen walked twice while going 1-2 with a run scored and another double. That led to the final two games of the series where Allen was unstoppable. On Saturday, he went 4-5 with two runs scored, a homer, and four RBI. On Sunday, the infielder saved his best for last, going 3-5 with two runs scored, two home runs, and four RBI. That gave him four RBI in back-to-back games, and he had at least two RBI in four of the six games, all victories for the Cougars.

For the week, Allen led the league with a .545 batting average (12-22). He was tied for first in homers (4) and was first in RBI (13). The Cougars infielder was first in on-base percentage (.643), slugging percentage (1.182), and OPS (1.825).

Josh Allen began his professional career with Evansville (Frontier League) in 2014 and spent four seasons there, hitting .355 in 2016. In 2018, he joined the St. Paul Saints and was on fire, hitting .344 with 17 runs scored and 11 RBI in 24 games before his contract was purchased by the New York Mets and he was sent to Binghampton (AA) where he hit .248 in 42 games. The following season Allen returned to St. Paul where he helped lead the team to the Miles Wolf Cup, hitting .272 with 17 home runs and 58 RBI in 93 games. He returned to St. Paul in 2020, hitting .304 in 44 games.

The Saints joined the Minnesota Twins organization in 2021 and Allen returned to Evansville to start the season. After hitting .324 in 19 games, he moved to Kane County to rejoin his former manager (George Tsamis). Allen hit .284 in 67 games, drilling 12 homers while driving in 45. He sat out all but three games in 2022, but returned for a full season in 2023, hitting .256 in 74 games, scoring 49 runs, driving in 43, and hitting 12 home runs. At 33, Allen is having one of his best records this season, hitting .329 in 79 games with 15 home runs, 54 RBI, and 69 runs scored in 79 games.

Allen is the second Cougars player to receive Player of the Week honors this season. Cornelius Randolph earned the honor in Week 7.

2024 American Association Players of the Week

Week 1 – Narciso Crook, Chicago Dogs
Week 2 – Blake Rutherford, Kansas City Monarchs
Week 3 – Jaxx Groshans, Cleburne Railroaders
Week 4 – Max Murphy, Winnipeg Goldeyes
Week 5 – Brian O’Grady, Cleburne Railroaders
Week 6 – Josh Altmann, Lake Country DockHounds
Week 7 – Cornelius Randolph, Kane County Cougars
Week 8 – Hill Alexander, Cleburne Railroaders
Week 9 – Ryan Hernandez, Lake Country DockHounds
Week 10 – Josh Rehwaldt, Sioux Falls Canaries
Week 11 – Alex Baeza, Lincoln Saltdogs
Week 12 – Shed Long, Cleburne Railroaders
Week 13 – Curtis Terry, Lake Country DockHounds
Week 14 – Ryan Hernandez, Lake Country DockHounds
Week 15 – Dusty Stroup, Chicago Dogs

By Robert Pannier