Braves Prospect Clears Up Reports About Surgery
Atlanta Braves selected Kolby Allard with the 14th pick in the 2015 MLB Draft out of San Clemente High School in California. The extremely talented 18-year-old missed most of his high school senior season because of a stress fracture in his back. He is listed on MLB.com as the Braves 4th top prospect heading into the 2016 season.
This stress fracture in his back had been known to have required a surgical procedure and rehab (which now we know did not happen). This was prior to the Braves selecting him in the 1st round and offering him a $3.04 million signing bonus. If this injury never happened, “experts” were saying Allard would have gone much higher in the draft.
After the Braves signed Allard on July 9th, 2015 he was sent to the Gulf Coast League. In August he made his debut and in three appearances in 2015 he struck out 12 of the 20 hitters he faced while giving up just one hit over the six scoreless innings.
When the 2015 season was over, a report started swirling that Allard had to have another surgery on his back. Even Braves General Manager John Coppolella told MLB.com that he had a minor back procedure.
Here is the direct paragraph from the article back in November…
"Braves general manager John Coppolella confirmed Allard underwent what he termed as a “minor back procedure” after he completed a short stint in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League. Coppolella said the procedure is not expected to hinder the young hurler’s development or prevent him from being ready at the start of Spring Training."
So let’s total this up…Allard had the FIRST procedure after high school on his back and then Coppy says he had his SECOND procedure after last season.
No one thought much of this since it seemed to be minor, but now Allard himself is clearing the air of this report.
Last night, Allard himself tweeted that he did NOT have a second surgery on his back. And that the surgery he had after the 2015 season was the first surgery. This tweet has since been deleted — it’s possible the Braves saw this and asked him to take it down.
Kolby’s remarks last night were spurned by an MiLB.com article about his most recent start that cited the two surgeries. This was him clarifying that there had only been one surgery.
I talked to him about it in Rome last month. Misinformation is fun... except not so much.
— Grant McAuley (@grantmcauley) July 12, 2016
This kid is something to be excited about. He along with many other Braves pitching prospect are the future of our organization. I’m glad he took to social media to remove all the rumors about a second surgery. It’s his career, back, future and everything else why not get the facts straight.
In four starts this season with the Danville Braves, Allard has a 1.69 ERA in the 22.1 innings pitched with allowing 14 hits, walking only four and striking out 26.