Who is Jay Allen II? Cincinnati Reds outfield prospect impresses for High-A Dayton Dragons

The Cincinnati Reds promoted right-handed pitching prospect Rhett Lowder to Double-A Chattanooga after the 2023 first-round draft pick made just five starts for the High-A Dayton Dragons.

Reds outfield prospect Jay Allen II might not be far behind Lowder on the way to Chattanooga. Allen hit just .154 with 40 strikeouts in 105 plate appearances for Dayton during an injury-plagued 2023 season, but he's hit .322 with seven home runs, seven stolen bases and an OPS of 1.064 through his first 107 plate appearances of this season for the Dragons.

Allen's seventh homer of the season came during the Dragons' 11-10 win against the Great Lakes Loons on Thursday. Allen hit his sixth home run on the first pitch of the Dragons' 9-5 loss May 7 to the Lake County Captains.

What to know about Jay Frederick Allen II:

Allen was a first-round pick of the Cincinnati Reds in the 2021 MLB draft.

The Reds selected Allen 30th overall, with a compensatory pick they received after losing free agent Trevor Bauer. Allen's signing bonus was $2,397,500.

The Reds selected infielder Matt McLain earlier in the first round (17th overall).

Chase Petty, selected 26th overall by the Minnesota Twins in that draft, was traded to the Reds in the Sonny Gray deal in 2022. Petty is pitching this season for Chattanooga.

The Reds drafted pitcher Andrew Abbott in the second round in 2021.

Allen starred in baseball, football, and basketball at John Carroll Catholic High School in Fort Pierce, Florida.

Allen, like Petty, had committed to play baseball for the Florida Gators. Allen batted .357 in 28 games during his senior year of high school.

A star quarterback who threw 29 touchdown passes as a senior at John Carroll, he had offers to play football at Air Force, Coastal Carolina, East Tennessee State, Eastern Kentucky, FIU, Florida A&M, Florida Atlantic, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Grambling State, Marshall and Youngstown State.

Allen also scored more than 1,000 points in basketball.

"(Baseball) was the safest choice for my body," Allen told milb.com. "I felt I could really be something if I applied my full-time effort into just baseball without the wear and tear of getting hurt in football."

Allen ranks 25th among MLB Pipeline's top Reds prospects.

From Allen's MLB Pipeline profile:

"Allen's plus speed makes him a legitimate basestealing threat and he can cover a ton of ground in center field. The goal is to try and keep the right-handed-hitting outfielder on the field for an entire season to see if he can start moving towards his very high ceiling."

With the Dragons in 2022, Jay broke the all-time Dayton franchise record for most stolen bases in a single game with five.

Allen turns 22 in November.

"I'm big on thinking," Allen told The Enquirer's Charlie Goldsmith in 2022. "This game is very hard, and that's really attractive. It's not (only) physical, it's mental. The way we run with this as hitters, that gives me a little more confidence and gets me excited to do this."

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This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Who is Jay Allen II? Cincinnati Reds OF prospect impresses at Dayton