This story was excerpted from Martín Gallegos’ A’s Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

OAKLAND -- At his best, Nick Allen is a player the A’s believe can provide a spark on offense. That has not been the case for most of his young Major League career. Over the past week, though, signs of that hitter have begun to show through.

In Monday’s 5-2 loss to the D-backs at the Coliseum, Allen collected his second multihit game of the homestand with a pair of singles. After going just 3-for-25 in his first 10 games since being recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas on May 2, Allen is hitting .429 (6-for-14) over his last four games.

What has led to this recent surge by Allen? A change in approach, which was spearheaded by A’s manager Mark Kotsay.

Giving Allen the day off for last week’s series finale against the Yankees on Wednesday, Kotsay pulled the 24-year-old shortstop into his office at Yankee Stadium to discuss hitting.

“We had a good conversation,” Kotsay said. “We talked about everything. From a hitting standpoint, I think we found something together that I’ve noticed in his approach at the plate a little different. Just hopeful that it continues and helps lead to more success.”

Entering Monday night, Allen was 1-for-18 on breaking pitches this season. Both of his hits against Arizona came off breaking balls -- slider and curveball.

“It’s just a different thought process from him right now,” Kotsay said. “We talked to him about, as a hitter, you have things that you feel lead to success. When there’s not success, it’s my job and the hitting coach’s job to talk to him about what he’s doing or thinking. That conversation came up where I felt like what he thinks is success is not leading to success, so let’s make an adjustment or a change, and it can be something very simple.”

Kotsay did not expand too much on the specifics of Allen’s adjustment, though he indicated that it is nothing mechanical in terms of his swing.

“He’s getting the baseball where he needs to get it to be successful for him,” Kotsay said. “Identifying pitches and taking good swings. We’re hopeful that this is the start for Nick to realize the hitter he is and the strengths that he has to continue forward for him.”