Left-hander Kolby Allard’s time with the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate will apparently only span one start. Texas announced on Tuesday that Allard will be promoted from Triple-A Nashville to start against the Brewers.
Allard, the No. 14 overall pick by the Braves in the 2015 draft, was traded from Atlanta to Texas in the deadline swap that saw reliever Chris Martin go to the Braves. It was a fairly steep price to pay for a two-month rental of Martin, as Allard is a big-league-ready arm who has pitched well in 21 Triple-A starts this season. Through 115 innings, he’s logged a 3.99 ERA with averages of 8.3 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 and 1.17 HR/9 to go along with a grounder rate a hair under 50 percent. Allard is one of only seven qualified starters in all of Triple-A — both the Pacific Coast League and International League — with an ERA under 4.00 this season.
Texas announced that right-hander Adrian Sampson is available out of the ’pen beginning tonight, so it seems that Allard will step into his starting spot for the time being. He’ll join Mike Minor, Lance Lynn and Ariel Jurado in the Texas rotation, with young righty Pedro Payano perhaps getting a look as well.
The acquisition of Allard, who’ll turn 22 next week, gave the Rangers precisely the type of MLB-ready arm of which the upper levels of their farm were largely devoid. Scouting reports on Allard portray him as more of a fourth starter than a top-of-the-rotation arm, but if that is indeed the eventual outcome, the Texas organization will happily plug him into the rotation for years to come.
While further options to and from Triple-A will impact Allard’s service time, he’s currently controllable through at least the 2025 season. He entered the 2019 campaign with 43 days of big league service and won’t be able to cross the one-year threshold in 2019 even if he sticks in the MLB rotation from here on out. As such, the earliest Allard would be eligible for arbitration would be after the 2022 season, as he won’t accrue enough service to be under consideration as a Super Two player when the time comes.
If he does well, hope Texas can keep him in the rotation.
Not like there’s much competition at this point.
Well of course if he does well they will keep him in the rotation.
“The acquisition of Allard, who’ll turn 22 next week, gave the Braves precisely the type of MLB-ready arm of which the upper levels of their farm were largely devoid.” Should be RANGERS.
gasp how scandalous
Are you sure it should be Rangers?
It should not be Rangers. The writer was correct. It should be Braves. Allard is clearly not an upper level arm. He is penciled in as a long term #4 starter at best. Chris Martin is an upper level arm but it is only as a rental reliever. His arm is still on a much higher level than Allard and I don’t think any analysts would disagree with that. The Rangers did well here because they did it smart. The Braves knew that they themselves were stacked in the minors with starting pitching and Allard would likely never make the cut. Even though he is a #4 on most teams, when his Braves graduating class comes up he is probably not even a #5 in Atlanta. I know you have to count on some guys failing but after the release of Gohara, Allard was the most likely to fail. Other teams that tried to trade with the Braves wanted a lot of their top prospects using the excuse that they had so many it wouldn’t matter. Texas was smart enough to give up a 2 month rental for and let AA pull from the bottom of the deck of it more well known prospects. Works out for both sides unless one implodes. Even if Martin implodes the Braves only gave up a pitcher with unspectacular numbers and no chance to be in their rotation in the future. If Allard blows up Texas only gave up a reliever that likely wouldn’t be on their team next year anyway. Braves got more talent but basically no longevity. The Rangers only needed longevity at that position in particular. I would have preferred Martin be under contract for next year but if that were the case Texas would have never traded him straight up for Allard. His arm is far to superior to Allard’s.
Bitter me wishes he was still a Braves
Why?
guy had a 4 era in the minors
Its always an interesting read when we talk about teams overvaluing prospects, but then you read something like this where a “expendable pitcher” from ATL could possibly be a 5 year back end starter for a few months of a reliever. One big red-flag for some was his fastball wasnt there enough to let his other pitches play up (only 88-91) but he was gunned at 94 with Texas in his 1st AAA start, and at 22 theres nothing saying it couldnt pick up another 1-2mph.
It definitely gives a glimpse as to why some teams hoard prospects but at the end of the day he has 0 MLB success even if hes shown flashes of being a solid rotation piece in AAA between 2018 and even in his first start in the Texas org.
MOST prospects that teams hoard, and their fanbase are petrified of trading, are Koby Allards……
That said, I can see a #4/5 starter in there somewhere. The Braves need Martin. It was a no-brainer on either side.
Nailed it Bob! No-brainer trade by both teams.
As a Ranger fan, hopefully Allard turns into more than a 4/5 starter. He certainly has the upside. Time will tell.
For Braves fans, Atlanta was badly in need of bullpen arms that don’t walk batters. Martin may get a chance to close games. He’ll definitely get to pitch in the postseason. Sounds like good reasons for Martin to re-sign with Atlanta. Allard was also expendable with all their top pitching prospects.
Easy decision for both teams to make the deal.
Well that’s cause most GM’s don’t want to wind up 5 games out of WC with a 230 million dollar payroll and have 0 impact replacements from within. Cost controlled players are where all the value is in the game. It’s really no surprise most teams put a high value on these guys. Even if we assumed DD’s model was great; 90% of the teams couldn’t follow the model if they wanted to because they don’t have the payroll capacity.
Free Agency is brutal; it’s very hard to find any “good buys.” It’s no surprise teams want to hang onto potential regulars making a fraction of the amount and quite possibly providing superior performance.
The problem is teams hang on to prospects at the expense of their big league team at times. The Yankees were a perfect example this year IMO. Everyone and their mother knew that team needed rotation help at the deadline, and they did nothing to address that very real and obvious need. The Astros, meanwhile, go out and get Greinke and put a fairly sizable talent gap between themselves and the rest of the AL.
Prospects are great, and a strong farm system is necessary to the sustainability of an organization. But when you start to value prospects over potential championships, you’ve lost your way.
Poor Allard. He loses his chance at a AAA title this year!
AAA title > MLB championships
Broken record
History would prove this to be incorrect as only a couple teams since 2006 have gone on to win the World Series after winning the ole’ Bricktown Showdown.
We’ll see. He’s done a much better job generating GB’s this year in AAA. That’ll be key to his success. Definitely while playing in Texas because he doesn’t more than backend stuff at this point.
It’s an absolute joke the braves got what we did for Allard. Absolutely embarrassing
More embarrassing than drafting Allard over Walker Buehler?
Seeing how 20+ teams drafted a player other than Walker in that draft, no. This is not the NBA
Unless you can provide links to comments made in 2015. Hindsight is silly when it comes to the MLB draft
I fail to see the point of hindsight trolling with regard to the MLB Draft.
The MLB Draft is less predictable than any other sport’s draft; any pointless jab fans want to take can be immediately turned around on them. The Dodgers drafted Chris Anderson over Aaron Judge. Thirty teams, including the Yankees, did. Twenty-some teams took a player before Mike Trout, just like 20-some teams took someone before Buehler. It happens every year and completely ignores factors like signability, player development processes, etc.
But, hey, keep trying to provoke fights on the Internet, I guess. Seems like a good use of one’s time.
Thanks Steve! Tell Tim, many of us would love a block feature in the comments section or a reporting section on the app!
Ah, irony…
You might want to correct this?
‘The acquisition of Allard, who’ll turn 22 next week, gave the Braves precisely the type of MLB-ready arm’
Ugh, thank you. Fixed.
What an excellent picture of Allard
I was thinking the same thing lol
Allard for Martin was not a bad trade for the Braves
He was having a good year and teams were interested so they had to pony up
Nobody for saw Sano’s HR coming
Hopefully he has a short memory and can turn it around
Greene too for that matter
With all the pitching the Braves have in the minors they had to move some at some point
I am sure Martin was the best available for the cost of Allard
The problem is not Green or Martin, the problem is the garbage they have below Donaldson and the starting pitching.
I wouldn’t worry about the bullpen yet, particularly the new guys. Someone was going to give up a run and it happened to be them.
2019 Stripers AAA championship!!
The Braves traded for crap at the deadline and you eat it up asking for more. Way to drink the kool aid.
Martin’s a good reliever, who will be effective more often than not. But he’s going to give up some hits and home runs because he challenges hitters in the strike zone.
You don’t put up a sub 1 BB/9 without throwing strikes. And when you attack hitters the way he does, you’re going to miss/get squared up on occasion.
As a Rangers fan, I love Chris Martin and the way he goes after hitters. I’d much rather watch that than a reliever with similar stuff who either can’t or won’t throw strikes. I’d be very happy to see Martin brought back next year on a one- or two-year deal.
I’ll take Martin over Minter anyday right now. Minter should really learn from him. He had awesome stuff, but is afraid of challenging hitters and tries to strike everyone out with deceit, instead of overpowering or pitching to contact.
Any fantasy value?