Banana Ball has taken baseball by storm over the last five seasons. The Banana Ball Championship League is exhibition baseball that travels all over the country to show off their funky rules to fans. Think of the Harlem Globetrotters of baseball.
Plenty of former big leaguers have played for the Savannah Bananas, including Johnny Damon, Jake Peavy, Jeremy Guthrie, Heath Bell and more. Former World Series champion Jackie Bradley Jr. was drafted and will be playing in the league full-time.
Banana Ball recently held its draft, which saw a few former minor leaguers drafted, including Tanner Allen, an outfielder who spent four seasons in the Marlins system after a four-year career at Mississippi State. Allen was drafted with the first pick of the second round by the Loco Beach Coconuts.
Looking Back at Allen’s Career
George Walker IV / Tennessean.com via Imagn Content Services, LLC
Allen’s career began as Mississippi State in 2018 where he had a pretty storied career. According to his team bio, Allen was named SEC All-Freshman team, starting every game, mostly at first base. In his sophomore season, he was named first-team All-SEC before playing only eight games his junior year.
However, his senior season is where he rose to college baseball stardom. In 67 games, Allen hit 19 doubles, 5 triples, 11 home runs and drove in 66. He hit .383 and posted a 1.076 OPS on his way to multiple awards.
Allen’s standout senior year saw him named an All-American by seven different publications and first team All-SEC. The big award was SEC Player of the Year, which puts him in pretty rare territory. He was drafted in the fourth round of the 2021 draft by the Marlins.
The first baseman and corner outfielder just never got it going from the jump. In 30 games at Single-A after he was drafted, Allen hit just .183 with a .534 OPS.
His struggles continued in 2022, but he reached High-A and spent 59 of his 84 games there. In total, he hit 11 doubles and three home runs with a .575 OPS. It appeared he was taking a step forward in 2023, reaching Double-A and having a career year.
Allen hit 11 doubles, four triples, nine homers and a career high 41 RBIs on his way to career highs in batting average (.271) and OPS (.748). The player at Mississippi State began to shine through, but it proved to be a pretty brief breakout.
In 2024, Allen played 50 games, hitting .225 with just two home runs and 14 driven in. At 26 years old, that would prove to be his final season in pro baseball, at least for now. After a decorated career at Mississippi State, Allen was unable to make it further than Double-A.
Now, Allen has a chance to show off his baseball skills in an exciting way as he plays for the Coconuts. His niche has yet to be seen, but from players pitching on stilts to the entire infield dancing, there’s no telling the show he could put on.
Who knows, if Allen has a renaissance, he could make his way back to professional baseball. He certainly has some of the best credentials in the league.
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