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**All-American Candidate**
WHAT TO KNOW: Has shown tremendous improvement in defensive skills and will move from left field to center field in 2003... had one of best offensive performances by a freshman (2001) in school history by hitting .389 with six home runs... strong upper body and good power to all fields... has developed into a line-drive hitter... improved strength and speed with offseason conditioning program... similar build and body to when Barry Bonds was a Sun Devil... the son of a former major league player who grew up around the game... looking to bounce back from a disappointing sophomore season... was named the No. 13 prospect in the Cape Cod League while playing for the Orleans Cardinals with teammate Steve Garrabrants... heads into the season ranked as the No. 46 prospect for the 2003 MLB draft by Baseball America.
2002 (Sophomore): Finished the year hitting .278 while finishing second on the team with 50 RBI... started 53 games, all coming in left field... had a strong finish to the year hitting .400 (6x15) with a home run and three RBI in the NCAA Mesa Regional... named to the all-tournament team for his effort... his solo home run vs. San Diego (5/31) tied the game at 3-3 and eventually led the Devils to the opening round win... became only the ninth Sun Devil to record 100 or more RBI in their freshman and sophomore years... ended his sophomore year with 103 career RBI and 12 home runs... recorded 17 multi-hit games and 15 multi-RBI contests... recorded a hit in 40 of his 56 games and ranked third on the team with 23 extra base hits... struggled in Pac-10 play hitting .228 with six doubles and 13 RBI... was a .308 hitter with five home runs and 37 RBI in non-conference action... was 2-for-3 (.667) with a pair of two-run doubles as a pinch-hitter... hit .429 (3x7) with 11 RBI with the bases loaded... season-high hitting streak was eight games (3/1-3/12) in which he hit .324... bases loaded three-run double vs. Oklahoma State (3/10) in the eighth inning proved to be the game-winner...also had a bases loaded three-run double vs. Oklahoma (4/24)... made only one error in 98 total chances in the outfield... was a first-team preseason All-America selection by Collegiate Baseball... was labeled as the No. 36 prospect on Baseball America's Top 100 for the College Class of 2003 at the beginning of the season.
2001 (Freshman): Became first freshman in school history to earn First Team All-Pac-10 honors... named to Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-America teams... finished second on the team and sixth in the Pac-10 with .389 batting average, setting the school freshman record... led ASU with a .578 slugging percentage... belted six home runs, including two grand slam home runs... all six of his home runs came with at least one runner on base... hit .380 (30x79) in Pac-10 play with 15 RBI... hit at a .396 clip in non-conference action... started his career with a bang, hitting .406 in games played in January and February... best month of the season was April in which he combined to go 28-for-59 (.475) with two home runs and 17 RBI... hit .355 (27x76) with runners in scoring position and was 4-for-8 with the bases loaded... recorded a hit in 40 of his 50 games played... his 21 extra base hits were fourth most on the team... connected on a three-run home run vs. UCLA (5/18)... recorded 22 multi-hit games, with a career high four-hits at New Mexico State (4/17)... also hit his first career grand slam and recorded five RBI in that game... had six, three-hit affairs in 2001... recorded a hit in 17 straight games (2/2-3/18) to start the season and his career... hit .450 (27x60) during that streak with 21 RBI, 16 runs and seven doubles... also had a seven game streak (4/13-4/24) in which he hit a robust .519 (14x27) with 13 RBI and two home runs... saw action in 51 games and made 42 starts... ASU was 14-6 when he hit cleanup... was 5-for-12 (.417) with two runs scored and six RBI in NCAA Regionals, including 3-for-4, five-RBI game in season finale vs. Texas Tech (5/26)... finished fourth in the Alaskan League (Glacier Pilots) in hitting with a .314 batting average... named top eight prospect by Baseball America in the Alaskan League... led all players in the ASL with 24 stolen bases... named second-team Summer All-American by Baseball America... helped lead Glacier Pilots to NBC World Series Championship... hit home run off former Sun Devil Franco Pezely in NBC World Series in Wichita, Kan.
High School: A 2000 graduate of Desert Vista HS... a three-year letterwinner at Desert Vista and was the team captain on the diamond his senior year... named all-city junior and senior year, as well as all-conference... second-team Arizona Republic All-State senior year... stole 23 bases his junior year and batted .419 during his senior campaign... best individual performance was a 5-for-5 game with six RBI...most exciting moment was winning the state championship.
MLB Draft: Drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 34th round of the 2000 June Amateur draft.
Personal: Pursing a degree in Justice Studies... father Rod Allen, Sr., is a broadcaster for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Fox Sports Net... mother is Monique Owens of Culver City, Calif... his father played in the major leagues for several years... Allen, Sr., was part of the 1984 Detroit Tigers World Championship baseball team... has one brother (Andrew, 13) and three sisters (Rachel 10, Rhonda 25, and Dominique 4 )... born September 21, 1982 in Los Angeles, Calif., and grew up in Culver City, Calif.... was a clubhouse attendant for the Arizona Diamondbacks in high school... full name is Roderick Bernet Allen, Jr.
Career statistics for Rodney Allen:
Year Avg GP-GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB-ATT
2001.... .389 51-42 180 41 70 14 1 6 53 11 18 6-11
2002.... .278 56-53 209 46 58 15 2 6 50 20 38 14-16
TOTAL... .329 107-95 389 87 128 29 3 12 103 31 56 20-27
Allen's Career Highs:
At Bats: 5 - 21x (STAN; 5/11/02)
Runs 4 (NMSU; 4/17/01)
Hits 4 (NMSU; 4/17/01)
RBI 5 - 2x (Texas Tech; 5/25/01)
BB 2 - 6x (WASH; 3/28)
SB 2 - 2x (SJU; 3/9/02)
2B 2 (Duke; 2/10/01)
HR 1 - 12x (USD; 5/31/02)
Hit Steak 17 games
Multi-Hit Games 39
Multi-RBI Games: 27
