Austin Allen had just caught nine innings in an 8-7 victory for the Peoria Javelinas in the Oct. 9 opener of the Arizona Fall League season.

The 3½-hour game was Allen’s 129th this year, the most he has ever played, and not even counting the time he spent participating in his first major league spring training.

The fatigue, he said, was not an issue. (More on that later.)

More of a challenge, he said, was being behind the plate in a game for the first time in more than three weeks.


He hadn’t caught since the San Antonio Missions’ final game, Sept. 14 in the Texas League Championship Series.

But he hadn’t been resting. (More on that right now.)

Just a few days after the Missions’ season-ending loss, Padres catching coordinator Ryley Westman received a text from Allen. Embedded in the missive was video of Allen squatting behind a plate, receiving pitches from a machine.

“This kid has such a drive to get better,” Westman said.


For that, the Padres have a commodity. An eager commodity.

“I want to play for the Padres,” said Allen, who is the team’s 12th-ranked position prospect, according to MLB.com. “I want to win … and do it with the guys I came up playing with.”

Whether he ultimately does specifically that will be figured out in due time.

However, it no longer seems to be a question as to whether he will play in the majors. By virtue of successive seasons of steady improvement and success at each level, the Padres confidently consider Allen to be either one of their catchers of the future or yet another emerging trade chit.


Because whatever he will be, the 24-year-old Allen — largely by hitting .287/.352/.501 with 44 home runs and 62 doubles over the past two seasons between Single-A and Double-A — has worked himself into the mix at one of the organization’s deepest positions.

That’s what his being here in the fall league is about — the next step in Allen’s evolution.

“He’s always come back in better shape every year,” Westman said.

To that end, Allen would be watching what he ate over the weekend after dining on a massive plate of chicken Parmesan at a restaurant a few miles from the Padres’ facility here last week.


“I can gain weight easily,” Allen said. “I’m conscious about what I eat.”

Adherence to a healthy diet was the first step in his transformation.

Like many players in the first year of professional baseball, Allen was still eating what he wanted when he wanted while playing for low-A Fort Wayne in 2016.

Allen was 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds when the Padres selected him in the fourth round in 2015 out of Florida Tech.


About a year later, he was pushing 245.

“It was bad. Embarrassing,” he said. “… Third or fourth inning, I was like, ‘I need a nap.’ I felt exhausted. I was working out, but I was like, ‘There is something going on. Something needs to change.’ ”

He altered his diet, got leaner and stronger. He weighed 222 last week, down three pounds from his spring training weight.

Then last offseason, after playing in ‘17 at Single-A Lake Elsinore, the plan to was increase his flexibility.


A man Allen’s size faces difficulty getting low to the ground and more trouble moving quickly when he’s down there. It’s just not natural. And that is the reason so many speculated when Allen was drafted that he would eventually be moved to first base and why the Padres didn’t rule it out.

“You’re sitting there looking at this guy, flexibility is not great, big kid,” Westman recalled. “… You’re thinking, ‘Can we rush him through the system if we put him somewhere else?’ ”

But the Padres prefer to let a prospect show them if he is or isn’t capable of doing what they want and what he wants.

“There was no other thought in his mind besides being a catcher,” Westman said. “He said, ‘This is the type of player I want to be.’ ”


There have been conversations with Allen about the possibility of moving out from behind the plate, and he did play 19 games at first base for Double-A San Antonio this past season.

Catching, though, is truly his passion.

“It’s a challenge,” Allen said. “First base is a challenge too, don’t get me wrong. But catcher is so much fun. Having a relationship with all the pitchers and going to battle every day with them, it gets me going even talking about it.”

There are flashes of Austin Hedges in Austin Allen.


Allen asks questions of the person questioning him. His face alights at the mention of every teammate as if his best friend was just brought up, and he proceeds to give an anecdote or impassioned reason behind his esteem for each one. Especially the guys with whom he works most closely.

“I like the relationship part with the pitchers,” Allen said. “Pitchers are some of the funniest guys on the team. I’ll do anything for them. … It’s about building trust.”

His desire to remain behind the plate is why his focus last season was on becoming more flexible, primarily in his hips, which led to being more agile in his legs and feet. One video he texted Westman last offseason was of him doing the splits.

And this past season in San Antonio, that flexibility manifested in the quality and quantity of his play.


In 795 1/3 innings, much of those played in oppressive Texas heat, Allen allowed three passed balls, down from six the year before and 11 in 2016). He also threw out twice as many would-be base stealers. And the reports were that he played far more consistently, even in late August and early September.

“This year he finished stronger because his body wasn’t fighting his body like it was in the past,” Westman said. “His endurance was better.”

This offseason’s focus is receiving pitches more fluidly.

“His receiving has gotten better,” Westman said. “It’s to a point we need to take another step with it.”


That’s what Allen has done all along, working to take the next step.

The players who end up being big-time big-league contributors are rarely the Bryce Harpers or Mike Trouts or Manny Machados — all-stars by the age of 20. The majority are simply players who continually improve and consistently make the necessary adjustments.

“I love baseball,” Allen said. “And it’s an honor to play. … I still have a lot of room to grow, which I’m pretty pumped about. I know I can do a lot more.”

kevin.acee@sduniontribune.com