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My amateur scouting report on Kolby Allard

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jbone17

Active member
Sep 26, 2008
6,756
42
The Riverlands.
Hey, fellas. I was fortunate enough that my local minor league team, the Lakewood Blue Claws are in the South Atlantic League Championships against the prospect-heavy Rome Braves. As it so happens, Kolby Allard was the starter for Rome. I know he has a big following on here, so I decided to throw my two cents into the hat on how Mr. Allard looked. I hope you enjoy my take.

Delivery

Let's put it this way. Allard has a very interesting delivery. It almost looked like he was pushing the ball towards home plate at times. When he follows through, he lifts both arms up and hides the ball for that extra second. The one major thing that impressed me is that he repeats these moving parts with Kershaw-like precision.

Repertoire

His fastball was hovering between 91-93 MPH with decent movement. His breaking ball was by far his best offering which had a late break. He didn't go to the change often, but it had solid movement. He did get away with some high fastballs, but his stuff was that good to make decent hitters miss bad pitches.

Grit

Allard did not get emotional on the mound. He walked a few batters, threw deep counts at times, errors were made behind him, and that competitive flare was there. This kid, put simply is a gamer. For a 19 year old, the composure was beyond his years. He threw some aggressive breaking balls in counts where Low-A hitters wouldn't expect it.

Future

Based on what I witnessed, Allard has the potential to be a bona fide ace, very similar to a Cliff Lee in his prime. His floor is a #3 starter and if he goes below that, I'd be shocked. As he moves up the ladder, his fastball command will need to improve by a micro-fraction. He can get away with the high fastball in this league, but they would have ripped some of these offerings in the show. I'd like to see him incorporate the changeup more and all reports suggest this pitch is coming along. We could be looking at the next best pitching prospect in all of MILB.
 

EtherealSOC

Active member
Dec 31, 2012
199
49
Nova Scotia, Canada
Thanks for sharing these great insights. I follow the Braves farm pretty closely and the buzz around Allard is growing. I feel like I have real insider knowledge now that I read this post. Thanks very much.
 

jbone17

Active member
Sep 26, 2008
6,756
42
The Riverlands.
Thanks for sharing these great insights. I follow the Braves farm pretty closely and the buzz around Allard is growing. I feel like I have real insider knowledge now that I read this post. Thanks very much.

No problem at all!

I was also very impressed with Austin Riley. He's a free swinger for sure, but when he connects...my...oh my...He hit a shot off of Alberto Tirado that hasn't landed yet. If he can cut down on the K rate (he showed great plate discipline, though) he can easily be a top 50 prospect. The pitches he did swing at were either fouled back to the screen, or he made solid contact which suggests those K's will eventually come down. Atlanta has made some amazing trades and it will be exciting to see if most of these kids pan out.
 

death2redemptions

New member
Feb 4, 2016
12,488
0
The Carolina on the Southern side
I completely agree. Ever since June my opinion is that Kolby Allard is our top pitching prospect, not Sen Newcomb. His changeup has shown so much improvement that I believe he now has two plus secondary pitches. His curveball has always been one of the best in the league (projected as a 70 pitch) and it's so good that it reminds me of Kershaw. He also has very good command of the strikezone and his control was rated as being one of the best among all top-100 pitching prospects. As he gets older & stronger I believe he'll add a couple ticks to his fastball velocity as well. I think he has the potential to be a high strikeout guy with a low walk rate which is a rarity these days. That has all the makings of a future frontline starter. I believe the only question is whether he can stay healthy.

His postseason numbers have been fantastic. He hasn't given up a run in 12 IP so far. I hope Rome clinches the series so I can watch him pitch one last time.
 

death2redemptions

New member
Feb 4, 2016
12,488
0
The Carolina on the Southern side
No problem at all!

I was also very impressed with Austin Riley. He's a free swinger for sure, but when he connects...my...oh my...He hit a shot off of Alberto Tirado that hasn't landed yet. If he can cut down on the K rate (he showed great plate discipline, though) he can easily be a top 50 prospect. The pitches he did swing at were either fouled back to the screen, or he made solid contact which suggests those K's will eventually come down. Atlanta has made some amazing trades and it will be exciting to see if most of these kids pan out.

Austin Riley is a monster! He's the other Braves prospect that I am highly invested in. He has insane power numbers for a 19 year old. His 20 HR are in awful lot for a single A player, in fact it ranked third in all of single A. He also ranked top 5 in OPS, extra base hits, doubles & RBI. Sure, the k rate is high and the walk rate is low and while I believe he can definitely improve in both categories the more experience he gets I still believe it's just part of his game. He's a pure power hitter with 30+ HR potential who will strikeout quite a bit but if he can hit .270 with those power numbers he'll be a highly effective weapon for the Braves, as they haven't had a big power guy like him in quite some time (although Freeman has finally flashed his power this year). He'll never be an elite advanced metrics player due to his weak defense & lack of speed but he'll still be a force to be reckoned with.
 

death2redemptions

New member
Feb 4, 2016
12,488
0
The Carolina on the Southern side
Max Fried's prospect stock has just gone wayyyyyyyyyyy up. In his last 4 starts he has struck out 44 in 25.1 IP with a 2.49 ERA. Four straight 10+ k games.

In the playoffs he has gone 14 IP 2 ER 24 SO. He just tied the all-time Rome Braves strikeout record in a single game. Brilliant....
 

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