Atlanta Braves Midseason Top 50 Prospects: Top Ten
10. Kolby Allard, LHP, Danville
Allard was the Braves first pick in the 2015 draft, and without back issues his senior year of high school, he likely would have gone much earlier in the draft. The 6’1 lefty from California came out and showed excellent ability in a very short stint for the GCL team last season, throwing 6 innings without allowing a run, giving up only one hit and striking out 12. That sort of performance had not just Braves fans drooling, but also the national prospect evaluators, as he was ranked in the top 100 prospects in all of baseball by Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, and MLB.com.
Allard began this season in extended spring training after an offseason back procedure so he could build up his strength in his mechanics. Allard was called up from extended spring to Rome in early June, and he didn’t fare so well, going just 12 innings over 3 starts with an 8.25 ERA and a 1.67 WHIP. He did have a solid 4/12 BB/K ratio in that time, but he simply got pounded on balls in the strike zone. He was “aiming” the ball quite a bit, and it showed as he didn’t let his mechanics finish naturally, cutting off his motion in order to try to get the ball in the zone, which actually hurt the natural movement that he gets on his pitches.
Allard went back to extended spring for a week and when Danville opened their season, he was part of their rotation, and it looked like a much better fit for him as he let his low-90s fastball work with its excellent late life in the zone. He was even touching 97 in one Danville start. His curve, considered the best in his draft class, was snapping off much better and getting better depth, and with the better finish on his motion, Allard’s change was playing up much better as well. That all added up to 21 1/3 innings of 1.69 ERA ball so far with a 0.84 WHIP and a 4/26 BB/K ratio.
Allard is certainly one who has the natural talent to move up this list a lot, and I’m sure having him at 10 will be slightly controversial, but I also believe that back issues are the second-worst thing a pitcher could have go wrong with them – second only to shoulder issues. Allard is still young and could build on his frame to move past this issue, but I could absolutely see why the team may move him very slowly and deliberately along the way with the history of guys with back issues. His talent screams at you off the mound, however, so fans will likely be pushing for Allard to move up levels much before the team makes that decision.
9. Robert Whalen, RHP, AA Mississippi
Whalen was part of the 2015 annual Kelly Johnson-related fleecing of the Mets that also brought over John Gant to the team. The Mets originally drafted Whalen out of high school in the 12th round of the 2012 draft, and he had worked his way up their system well, performing at near-elite levels at every stop of the minor leagues before 2015. However, once traded to the Braves, he made only 3 starts before having season ending knee surgery.
Whalen works with a four-pitch mix, featuring a fastball that sits in the low 90s and can touch 95-96 with excellent sink and wiggle to the pitch. He also has an excellent curve and slider along with a change that has shown up this year as an above average pitch. Whalen’s curve was rated as one of the best in the Mets system by Baseball America, but Whalen stated that they were likely referring to his slider as they both have very similar movement, but interestingly, his slider gets more depth than his hard curve.
Coming into this season, I had the opportunity to chat with Whalen on Twitter a few times about his knee, specifically around the time my scouting report came out on him. He talked about how he really had not been healthy for well over a full season with the knee issues, and that he was very excited to show what he could do when fully healthy this spring. I made a mental note that Whalen could be one to watch improving over the season as he got more stability on his knee.
Sure enough, Whalen came out with a 4.05 ERA and 1.35 ERA in April, and in watching him, you could see some hesitation still in trusting the knee fully. However, something clicked in his second start in May, and he’s been on a tear ever since, getting the call to AAA Gwinnett this week as a reward for easily being the best performing pitcher in the entire minor league system this whole season. He’s put up a 2.49 ERA and 1.22 WHIP on the season over 101 1/3 innings with a 37/94 BB/K ratio. The sinker is working very well, as he’s allowed only 4 home runs this year, the lowest rate of home runs allowed in his career.
Whalen’s ceiling is possibly not as high as a guy like Allard or some others who he’s above in this list, but he’s also shown his talent level plenty high to get to this point, and I could definitely see him working in the front half of a rotation as a 2/3 sort of starter, and that has an exceptional amount of value. I will say that he’s already at a career high in innings pitched, so it wouldn’t surprise me if the team does cut off his season at some point or even use him out of the bullpen to save his innings, but he’s shown enough this year already to establish himself as a gem in a system full of them!
Next: 8, 7