Minor League Baseball

Former Atlanta Braves Top Prospect Signs Minor League Deal with Cleveland Guardians

Kolby Allard, who previously played for the Atlanta Braves, Texas Rangers and Philadelphia Phillies, has signed a minor league deal with the perennial AL Central contenders.
Brady Farkas|
Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Kolby Allard (49) pitches against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the second inning at Chase Field in 2024.
Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Kolby Allard (49) pitches against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the second inning at Chase Field in 2024. | Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

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Atlanta Braves

Former top prospect Kolby Allard has signed a minor league deal with the Cleveland Guardians.

Allard, 27, has appeared in parts of seven major league seasons with the Atlanta Braves, Texas Rangers and Philadelphia Phillies. He came up in 2018 with the Braves as a heralded prospect.

He was a Top-100 prospect for three straight years (per MLB.com) from 2016-2018. He got as high as No. 53 on the Top 100 list back in 2017.

The Braves traded him in 2019 to the Rangers in the deal that sent Chris Martin to Atlanta. The Rangers then traded him back to the Braves in 2022, though he never appeared in a game for the Braves in that go-round.

Lifetime, he's 11-24 with a 5.99 ERA. He's made 42 starts and 34 relief apperances in his career. He made seven appearances for the Phillies in 2024 as they won the National League East and advanced to the NLDS.

Should he make the Guardians roster, he'll have a chance to compete for a playoff spot again, as Cleveland is coming off an American League Central crown. Furthermore, he'll have access to one of the best pitching development systems in baseball. The Guardians are notoriously good at developing their staff, and Allard can likely benefit from that.

Teams around baseball report to spring training in just over one week. The first spring training games come later in February and Opening Day is set for March 27.

Allard will likely battle for a swing role in Cleveland.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is the senior writer for “Minor League Baseball on SI’’ and the host of “The Payoff Pitch’’ podcast, which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. Follow Brady on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady.

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