Gwinnett Stripers Fishing Report: Kolby Allard is All Business

This story is featured in the June 5-July 8, 2018 edition of the Gwinnett Stripers Fishing Report. Editor's note: Allard made his MLB debut on July 31, 2018.
Kolby Allard begins every windup with his glove shielding his face, with just enough space for his eyes to peer in at the catcher's signal. The mitt symbolizes the mask he puts on each gameday, letting everyone in the ballpark know he means business.

It's a contrast in style for Allard, the 20-year-old Gwinnett Stripers starting pitcher who began the season as the second-youngest player in the International League. He's known to his teammates as one of the most laid-back guys in the clubhouse, and one to goof around from time to time. But on game days, some teammates described him as "a bull" on the mound.
"Once I get between the lines on game day, it's go time," Allard said. "There's nobody that's going to out-compete me. But off the field before games, in between starts, it's a long season and a long grind. You've got to try to have fun with it and be as loose as you possibly can while you're getting your work in."
Allard, who spends the offseason mostly on his surfboard in his oceanside hometown of San Clemente, California, said he takes pride in his pre-game planning and studying each hitter's tendencies. With a fastball that sits in the low-90s, a curveball and a circle-change in his arsenal, Allard knows he isn't going to overpower hitters. Each at-bat comes down to execution and moving the ball around the zone with intent, he said.
"I throw strikes. That's one thing I take pride in, is just going out there and keeping the defense in the game," he said. If they're going to beat me, it's because they're going to hit me. I'm not going to go out there and walk the house, or at least try not to walk the house. I'm just going to be mano-a-mano, I'm going to go against you with my best stuff and they can try to hit it."
Some days, Allard has shown his best stuff for the Stripers, such as his May 13 start against Norfolk in which he went 8.0 scoreless innings allowing just two hits and one walk with eight strikeouts. There are games, such as May 8 against Charlotte, when he'll allow eight hits and three walks over 6.0 innings, but limit his opponent to just one run.
"What separates the good from the best is who can battle on their bad days," Allard said. "Who can go out there and grind out six or seven innings and keep their team in the ballgame? For everybody, especially at this level and as you go up, the room for error is so much smaller. Everyone when they're on is going to go out there and dominate. It's the times you're not on, that you have to be able to work without your best stuff, and that just comes down to competing. Can you battle? That's something that I take pride in - no one's going to go out there and compete as well as I do."
He isn't one for player comparisons, so he says he doesn't model his game after anyone else; "You can pick up things from everyone," he explained.
But Chris Stewart, Allard's catcher for six of his first nine starts this season, has one comparison to pitchers he's worked with in his more than seven-year Major League career.
"Not stuff-wise, but poise-wise: Tim Lincecum," Stewart said. "Laid back as you could be off the field, but when he's out there on the field, he's a bulldog. I think he's got that kind of personality and it obviously helps. I think the biggest thing is his stuff might not show in the numbers he's putting up. It's the combination of the mental side with the physical side that he's able to go out there and dominate."

Yet it hasn't always been so easy for Allard to channel the mentality comparable to a two-time Cy Young winner, or heed the advice of former Braves like Tom Glavine, whom he worked with during 2018 Spring Training as a non-roster invitee.
Selected by the Atlanta Braves as the No. 14 overall pick in the June 2015 draft at just 17 years old, Allard got a late start on his professional career due to back surgery on a herniated disk in August of that year. After three brief starts with the Gulf Coast League Braves, he was sidelined until June of the following year.
He spent 2016 between Rookie-level Danville and Class-A Rome, combining to go 8-3 with a 2.98 ERA over 16 starts. The next year, he was promoted right to Double-A Mississippi, going 8-11 with a 3.18 ERA in 27 starts, being named both a Midseason and Postseason Southern League All-Star.
He's relied on his teammates to help him through his quick trajectory to the Triple-A level thus far, with fellow starter and 20-year-old Mike Soroka particularly. The two have lived together for the past two years as they both made their way through the Braves' system at essentially the same pace.
"It's been good to go through it with someone like him," Allard said. "We're very different pitchers, but we're very like-minded individuals and we have very similar philosophies on pitching even though we're different style-wise. It's been good to have someone who has the same drive you have toward what you're trying to reach. He's one of my good friends and hopefully we can keep that going for quite a while in Atlanta."
Soroka got his first big-league call-up to Atlanta on May 1. In Allard's first five starts after Soroka made his Major League debut, he went 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA, which may or may not have been a coincidence.
"It kind of pushes you to be better every day," Allard said. "You see him go do something well and I want to go do better, and vice versa."
For now, Allard said he'll keep working hard as ever with Gwinnett until his call-up comes.
"All I can do is go out there and compete every five days and throw up as many zeroes as I can, and hopefully that can translate to up there when my name is called," he said.