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Atlanta Braves: Three takeaways from Kolby Allard’s debut

By Benjamin Chase

ATLANTA, GA - JULY 31: Kolby Allard #36 of the Atlanta Braves throws a pitch in the first inning of his MLB pitching debut during the game against the Miami Marlins at SunTrust Park on July 31, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - JULY 31: Kolby Allard #36 of the Atlanta Braves throws a pitch in the first inning of his MLB pitching debut during the game against the Miami Marlins at SunTrust Park on July 31, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images) /
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Atlanta Braves
ATLANTA, GA – JULY 31: Kolby Allard #36 of the Atlanta Braves throws a pitch in the first inning of his MLB pitching debut during the game against the Miami Marlins at SunTrust Park on July 31, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images) /

The Atlanta Braves saw former top prospect Kolby Allard make his major league debut Tuesday night. What can we take away from the game?

Kolby Allard has been one of the Atlanta Braves top-rated prospects since coming to the team as the #14 overall selection in the 2015 draft. He’s ranked as high as the #24 prospect (Baseball Prospectus, 2018) in all of baseball by various national ranking services.

However, he seems to have fallen off many prospect lists at the midpoint of 2018, and certainly, he’s begun to fall out of favor with a number of Braves fans who saw his strikeout rate go from a 25.2% strikeout rate in low-A Rome to a 19.6% rate in AAA Gwinnett. Of course, over that time, He’s also seen his walk rate go down from 8.1% to 7.4%, his flyball rate tick down a full point and his groundball rate tick up 3 points. Strikeouts are sexy, though, and everyone knows other than the long ball, the next best thing in baseball is the strikeout.

Hence, the fact that he and Mike Soroka were the ones that made this blurb for Fox Sports South is even more amazing.

The Atlanta Braves saw their young lefty posting a 2.80 ERA at 20 years old in AAA and decided this would be the perfect time to get him up to the majors for a spot start. So, last night as Atlanta Braves fans were coming down off of their high of acquiring Kevin Gausman, they got to watch young Kolby make his major league debut.

He finished the night with a win, going 5 innings, allowing 5 runs (4 earned) on 9 hits and 2 walks, striking out 1. There are many today on social media concerned about the start, especially that final number, but let’s take a look at three takeaways that you should have from Kolby Allard’s major league debut.

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