Tasser’s Take: Transforming Allie into a pitcher could be risky move for Pirates

In a Hollywood movie about a girl next door and a high school kid, a spiky-haired man offers… In a Hollywood movie about a girl next door and a high school kid, a spiky-haired man offers this painfully simple advice on investments: “Make sure the juice is worth the squeeze.”

I really hope Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Neal Huntington has watched “The Girl Next Door” recently, because after his questionable decision earlier this week to transform prized and expensive pitching prospect Stetson Allie into an unspecified position player, Huntington’s butt is planted right on the hot seat.

Allie, 21, was the Pirates’ 2010 second-round draft pick and formerly a fire-balling right-handed pitcher who could reportedly hit triple digits on the radar gun and was pegged as a future big-league closer. The Pirates gave him a signing bonus of $2.25 million — a record for a player chosen outside of the first round — even though he didn’t begin pitching until his senior year of high school.

At the time, Allie was heralded as having the best arm in the draft but never developed as a pitcher at the professional level, struggling with control and posting a dismal 6.58 earned run average and walking 37 batters in only 29 minor league innings.

On Monday, the Pirates announced that Allie was making the switch to a position player and that the experiment will continue through extended spring training to determine which minor league level Allie begins playing at as an everyday player.

This switch has several possible positive and negative outcomes, which will likely determine if Huntington keeps his job or not.

On the plus side, Allie was a highly rated third base prospect prior to becoming a pitcher and could easily become the best power-hitting prospect in the Pirates’ system.

Yes, you heard right — a pitcher could become their best power-hitting prospect almost overnight.

Allie is still young enough that it’s believable that he won’t be a bust and can develop into a solid major league hitter and fielder, something the organization desperately needs.

The quality of the Pirates’ pitching prospects is high, but the position prospects sharply decline after outfielders Starling Marte and Josh Bell.

The move also comes with a lot of risk.

Allie had not even pitched for a full minor league season before this switch was made, and he very well could have grown into a good pitcher, had he gotten more experience.

The Pirates failed with a previous experiment like this, when they changed their 2001 first-round draft pick John Van Benschoten — who had led college baseball in home runs at Kent State — to a pitcher. After finding little success with Pittsburgh, Van Benschoten became a free agent and hasn’t played in the MLB since.

Huntington is in a very precarious position. This is year five of his program, and while the Pirates have shown improvements, they have had more negative personnel moves than positive.

Trading for Ryan Ludwick and Derrek Lee last year was an utter failure, even if it was nice to see the team labeled as buyers at the trade deadline instead of sellers.

And fans have been forced to watch Ronny Cedeno and Clint Barmes fumble the ball at shortstop, the LaRoche brothers’ confused faces every time they swing at and miss a curveball and an overweight, lazy Jose Tabata trying to beat out a ground ball by powerwalking — and getting a contract extension for it.

If Allie doesn’t tear up the minor leagues for the rest of the season, Huntington’s remaining time in charge could be short. The Pirates have invested far too much in the draft of late to not see any returns. At this point, the term “headed in the right direction” is not enough.

The process of revamping a decimated farm system takes time, yes, but more steady advancements must also be made at the major league level.

The team — like last year’s version — is exciting and extremely fun to watch. But there is no doubt that the Pirates are overachieving with their current 27-26 record.

And with such little offense at the major league level and even less hitting talent in the minor leagues, if the stellar pitching staff hiccups even a little bit, like last year, the Pirates’ season could come to a very ugly conclusion.

Maybe Allie will be a better hitter than he was a pitcher. Maybe he will become the bat to hit behind Andrew McCutchen down the line. Maybe the Pirates will again be buyers at the deadline this year and give Huntington a chance to redeem five years of questionable player acquisitions.

But for the sake of Huntington and Pirates fans everywhere, the juice of this Allie experiment better be worth the squeeze.