Coming into his senior year of high school Kolby Allard was looking to solidify his place as a top ten pick in this years draft. Things didn’t work out that way as he hurt his back and missed his whole senior season. Now he is starting to throw for teams and his medicals will be out there. Because he hasn’t been able to pitch most teams have moved Allard out of the top ten. Kiley at Fangraphs has him in the 10-24 range, MLB has him at 16, BA has him at 18.
Pitches:
Allard is primarily a two pitch pitcher because those two pitches are dominate. He throws a hard fastball as it sits 92-95 mph from the left side. He also throws a great curveball that fools both right handed and left handed hitters. Most scouts grade his pitches at future 60 offerings which is plus. Not a lot of players in this draft class have that type of chance.
Recent Buzz:
There are rumors that the Yankees really like Allard and have been linked to him in some mock drafts.
My Take:
I wasn’t too sold on Allard before doing some more in depth research on him. Now I’m more intrigued for a year reasons. One I didn’t think his pitchers were as good as they were. In a draft class that you don’t have elite talent this kid would normally go a lot higher but because of the freak injury he is sliding. Good for the Yankees. Also Allard is a late birthday kid too. Rany Jazayerli was one of the founders of baseball prospectus and writes about baseball still. He did a study that showed when a player is drafted and is younger than his peers he tends to develop better. Allard won’t turn 18 until August which means he will play all of next year at 18 which is what most high school seniors. This really gives you an extra development year. Plus number two starter upside is hard to find in this draft class.
Pitching is what teams are always looking for and I think the Yankees will grab some especially because of their haul of top position players internationally this last summer. Stay tuned as we will have rumors and other draft related content coming out more quickly now that the draft is just a few days away.
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