Greg Allen making splash with Yankees using advice from late Hall of Famer | ‘He can help us’

Yankees outfielder Greg Allen is a San Diego native who is old enough only to remember the tail end of late Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn’s 20-year career, all of it with the Padres. He wasn’t born when the 15-time All-Star won the first four of his eight National League batting titles and was just 5 in 1998, too young to recall Gwynn leading the Padres to the World Series and hitting .500 in 16 at-bats during the Yankees’ four-game sweep.

“Growing up in San Diego, I watched the Padres,” Allen said. “I knew who he was.”

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The Gwynn/Allen connection eventually became personal and lasting.

By 2011, Allen was a senior at Chula Vista High with bat skills from both sides of the plate, elite speed and defensive wizardry in center field that put him on the radar of Gwynn, who by then was well into his long run as head baseball coach at San Diego State.

When Gwynn recruited Allen and offered a scholarship, there was no way he was going to say no.

Playing for Gwynn from 2012-14 turned out to be one of the best decisions that Allen ever made.

During their three years together, all of them while Gwynn was fighting cancer, Allen got a lot better as a ballplayer and man.

In June 2014, Allen was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the sixth round.

Gwynn died 10 days later at age 54.

“Coach Gwynn had a monumental impact, and it was one that I probably unfortunately didn’t even realize the true impact of until I was no longer at San Diego State,” Allen said. “But it was an incredible blessing just having a chance to be there. Having this chance to be under his tutelage … he was just a phenomenal coach, but even a better person. He loved his players, loved his family and loved to try and make everyone better. And he loved the game of baseball, loved to compete.”

Some of those traits rubbed off on Allen, who has made quite the first impression with the Yankees since being called up last Friday as one of the replacements for the COVID-IL guys.

“Tony was such a great humble, awesome guy, and my dealings so far with Greg is he’s fairly low key and just kind of a pro,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Sunday night after Allen contributed a single, stolen base, sacrifice fly and scored two runs in a 9-1 slaughtering of the first-place Red Sox. “We had really good and the right conversations in (Sunday’s) game that he brought to me.”

Allen loved picking Gwynn’s mind and still uses some of the baseball lessons that were grilled into his mind at San Diego State.

“I think one of the biggest takeaways I had from him during my time at San Diego State, he always talked to us about slowing the game down,” Allen said. “That was something that he preached.”

Ever since, Allen has been telling himself to slow … the … game … down.

“If it’s something that (Gwynn) used in his game, it’s definitely something that we could use,” said Allen, who turned 28 in March. “He was huge on slowing the game down, just being in the moment and doing things the right way.”

Allen does things his way, which is slapping hits, using his speed and running down everything hit his way in the outfield.

After playing 220 games for the Indians from 2017-20 and one last season with the hometown Padres following an Aug. 31 trade, Allen now is getting his shot on baseball’s biggest stage. Thus far, he sure has looked good in Yankees pinstripes going 3-for-6 with a double, walk, stolen base and RBI over the weekend against Boston.

“He can really defend in the outfield,” Boone said. “He can run obviously. He’s given quality at-bats from both sides, even at-bats that haven’t ended in a result necessarily. It’s a big league at-bat. It’s competitive. It’s not a lot of chase.

“He can help us.”

Traded by the Padres to the Yankees last January for minor-league reliever James Reeves, Allen bided his time in the first half of 2021, initially at the alternate camp and then from May through mid-July in Triple-A. During this time, Allen endured two short injured list stints and coped with being passed over for several call-ups when the Yankees turned to Scranton for outfield help.

His motto during those frustrating times was something that Gwynn would preach.

“What you can control is what you can do today in that moment,” Allen said. “Be where your feet are and make the most of it.”

That approach impressed the Yankees.

“I know in talking to guys about him in Triple-A how he’s been,” Boone said. “This guy has a lot of big-league time over the last few years and he’s been a pro down there,” Boone said. “He’s been a good player down there. He’s been a good teammate down there, a guy that you can trust in a lot of situations. And that’s what he’s showing so far.”

Allen’s big break finally came last Friday when the Yankees’ COVID outbreak sent All-Star right fielder Aaron Judge to the IL while fellow outfielders Aaron Hicks, Miguel Andujar and Clint Frazier already were shelved.

Allen never hit much during his past big-league opportunities — he’s a career 242 hitter over 563 at-bats with eight homers and 33 steals — but the 6-foot, 185-pounder has been a spark in each of his first three Yankees games.

On Friday night, Allen delivered a pinch-hit single in his Yankees debut, one of three hits for his club in a 4-0 loss to Boston at Yankee Stadium. On Saturday night, he played left field in a 3-1 win and contributed a fifth-inning double that broke up Nathan Eovaldi’s no-hitter and led to the tying run. On Sunday night, Allen singled and scored the Yankees’ second run, he drove in the third with a sacrifice fly, then he walked and scored in a four-run seventh.

“Looking at my own personal skill set … anything I can do to get on base, increase traffic, play some good defense,” Allen said. “Just find ways to score runs. That’s the name of the game. So any way I can impact the game, that’s where my focus is and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

The way Allen is playing, he might be around for a while, especially when you factor in the Yankees have so many outfielders injured. Two more went down over the weekend with Tim Locastro suffering a season-ending torn ACL on Saturday and rookie Trey Amburgey leaving his second MLB game on Sunday night with a hamstring issue that may or may not be serious.

Allen is grateful for this opportunity.

“It’s very exciting,” Allen said. “Any chance you have to compete at the big-league level, you definitely don’t take it for granted. Obviously the situation isn’t ideal. You don’t wish it on anyone, but I’m just going to try to do all I can to help the team win.”

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