Guardians place Logan Allen on IL, recall Michael Kelly

Logan Allen's rookie season has come to an end. The Cleveland Guardians are placing the left-handed starter on the injured list and are recalling Michael Kelly from Triple-A Columbus in a corresponding move. Allen will finish his rookie season with a 3.81 ERA and 1.396 WHIP in 24 starts.

Allen lands on the injured list with left shoulder inflammation, an unfortunate but not unexpected outcome for a rookie who has pitched in 145.2 innings between Columbus and Cleveland this season. This amount of innings was always going to be the upper threshold for Allen, and it is easy to see why with this late-season shutdown.

The 25 year old lefty had his fair share of ups and downs this season, as most rookies do, and at one point was sent back down to Triple-A for a brief period. Allen would return, allowing two or fewer runs in seven of his 12 starts after rejoining the Guardians' rotation.

One area in which Allen does need to improve in moving forward is walks. Allen walked 48 batters in 125.1 innings this season and issued three or more free passes in five of his final 12 starts of the year. Surprisingly, only one of these starts saw Allen give up more than two runs, while the complete opposite may have been expected.

Moving forward, Allen should figure to be part of the future of Cleveland's starting rotation, alongside fellow rookies Tanner Bibee and Gavin Williams. This trio of rookies took on the uneviable task of being the guys in Cleveland's rotation following injuries to Triston McKenzie and Shane Bieber, in addition to the trade of Aaron Civale.

Cleveland's pitching staff appears to be in good hands moving forward as the next era of Guardians pitching has arrived. This earlier than expected arrival could lead to the front office opting to trade an established starting pitcher as soon as this offseason in order to bolster the offense and give this team a better chance at competing next season.