Atlanta Braves Top 100 Prospects Scouting Report: 13. Kolby Allard

Scouting Report

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Allard just has one start with video to watch right now, but there’s good stuff to go on in that video. For numbers on the start I saw, it was his 6/6 start versus Charleston when he went 4 innings, allowing 6 earned runs on 5 hits and 2 walks, striking out 3.

Allard stands 6’1 and is listed at 180 pounds. I’d say that’s fairly accurate as Allard definitely sits on the lean side. Allard works with a fastball in the 91-94 range that can touch as high as 96-97. The curve ball is his big off speed pitch, with huge depth and 80 mph velocity. The change up sits in the low- to mid-80s.

Allard has an interesting motion, which could play in part to his back issues and protecting his back, but he raises his hands high over his head, but his lead knee barely breaks his knee in height, though he tucks it all the way back to his arm-side hip in his motion as he coils his body. Allard’s arm then comes through in a 3/4 motion, but the way that he moves forward leads to a load of deception, making the arm slot look even lower.

I do have a few worries about the motion just because it does coil him up so much at the top of the delivery, and then he uncoils very quickly as he moves toward the plate, which led to issues with his landing foot being inconsistent and also with his arm dragging just a touch. You’ll note typically which is the issue by where the ball goes – ball missing glove side is usually landing issues as he tends to pull his body toward the glove side when he misses his landing spot, if the ball misses arm side, though, it’s usually a sign the arm is dragging through the motion a bit.

His fastball has nice life on it, and I really like the look of the pitch low in the zone as he has some natural glove side dip to the pitch.

The curve I found to be something else altogether. I’ve never seen a curve do what Allard’s does. He has a big, looping curve like we’ve seen in the system in Touki Toussaint and Max Fried, but Allard’s is tremendous in that it seems to have a deep break to the toes on one pitch, and then the same looking pitch with the same release point and height will suddenly stop its dip at the belt. That led to a number of hitters swinging under the pitch, expecting more movement on his curve. When they got the full curve to the toes, the batters were simply frozen due to having to watch for the mid-zone stop on the pitch.

His change up had some natural tail to it in the start I watched, and he does keep a similar arm speed to the pitch, which allows it to play up.

With his arm movement and slight deception, I wonder if a fourth pitch of a cutter would be a smart choice with Allard just to give hitters a different movement to have to respect at a higher velocity.

Next: Future outlook

Future Outlook

A number of fans were surprised that Kolby went until early June before he made his first start with Rome this season, but people need to remember two things. First, Allard is just now past one year removed from his draft, so he’s still very young. Second, Kolby was coming off a back procedure this offseason.

He’s showing no ill effects from the back issues as he throws, though as I mentioned, it is a point of wonder if part of the reason that he has some of the issues he has with his back is the heavy tuck in his motion.

Next: Braves Minor League Database

Allard will be at Rome the rest of the season as the Braves build innings onto his arm, and his performance the rest of the season will determine if he returns to Rome for a second season or if he moves up to Carolina.