The Guardians designated left-hander Kolby Allard for assignment Thursday, per a team announcement. Between Allard’s DFA and right-hander Luis Ortiz’s placement on paid administrative leave while he is the subject of a gambling investigation by the league, Cleveland needed to fill a pair of roster spots. They’ve recalled lefties Joey Cantillo and Doug Nikhazy from Triple-A to round out the staff. Cantillo will start tonight’s game in place of Ortiz.
Allard, 27, was a first-round pick by the Braves back in 2015. He ranked among Atlanta’s most promising young pitchers for several years but never established himself in the rotation there, in no small part due to a series of back injuries that limited his time on the field and impacted his production when he was able to take the mound.
Atlanta traded Allard to Texas in exchange for Chris Martin back in 2019, and he spent parts of four seasons struggling as an up-and-down member of the Rangers’ staff. He returned to the Braves in 2023 and spent 2024 with the Phillies, getting hit hard in both stops. By the time Cleveland signed Allard to a minor league deal this past offseason, he had a career 5.99 ERA in 272 innings.
On the surface, things have gone well for Allard in Cleveland. He’s pitched 35 1/3 innings, mostly in long relief, and posted a terrific 2.55 earned run average. That number doesn’t tell the whole story, however; Allard’s 10.5% strikeout rate is the lowest among the 318 pitchers who’ve tossed at least 30 innings in 2025. Entering the season, he’d seen nearly 16% of the fly-balls he’s allowed in his career land over the fence as home runs. He’s at just 3.6% in that regard this year, which seems bound to regress — as does his 81% strand rate (66% entering the season). Allard’s 3.60 FIP is more than a full run north of his actual ERA, and metrics like xFIP (5.19) and SIERA (5.07), which normalize that fluky home run rate, are even more bearish.
The Guardians will either trade Allard or place him on waivers within the next five days. Waivers are a 48-hour process, so he’ll know the outcome of his DFA within a week’s time. If he passes through waivers unclaimed, Allard will be able to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency — as is his right as a player who’s previously been outrighted in his career. Any team that takes a flier on Allard would be able to control him through the 2026 season via arbitration.
Maybe it’s just the timing of the move, but it seems like Allard got shafted here. 2.55 ERA, has pitched effectively in long relief, but doesn’t have enough Ks? 🤔
He probably didn’t have much of a chance of hanging onto that roster spot once Sewald and Stephan return. Hopefully he’s done enough to get another Major League job though.
He’s honestly been just a body for them since he first got called up. I thought they were literally just going to keep him a day. The long relief guy on this team is supposed to be Junis, and it was also supposed to be Cantillo before they decided to stretch him back out in AAA as a starter again.
It’s definitely fair to assume that Allard would have regressed in a larger sample, but I’m more inclined to wait for that to happen that I would be to move on from him now and risk losing out on more quality innings.
He’s saved their bullpen on numerous occasions already, and they’re getting rid of him now to replace him with Nikhazy — who will likely just end up filling the same role.
Hopefully Luis Ortiz has an interpreter to blame it all on. That seemed to work excellent for Ohtani.
Well, I’m sorry that Freddie Freeman is on the Dodgers now instead of the Braves.
Seems like Freeman made the right call with how the Braves are playing
Nats should put in a claim. They only have one lefty in the pen, and Jose Ferrer is terrible.
If he somehow makes it past the Rockies, he won’t make it past the White Sox.
Pretty odd lead for this story. Ortiz being suspended and potentially banned is disastrous for the Guardians season and plans moving forward.