Every young player can use an experienced tour guide in navigating his first stretch run. For Cleveland outfielder Greg Allen, that knowing voice emerged during a late-August game in Boston. As the Indians took the field in the bottom of the eighth inning, a veteran teammate sidled up and told him to enjoy the big-game atmosphere and pay close attention as the sellout crowd at Fenway Park broke into its nightly rendition of "Sweet Caroline.''
The veteran player, Francisco Lindor, is eight months younger than Allen. But the gesture came as no surprise to Lindor's Cleveland teammates, who have seen him carry himself with a professionalism beyond his years since his debut as Indians shortstop in 2015.