Kolby Allard won’t try replacing Corey Kluber, but he could give the Rangers some Kluber-like outings - The Dallas Morning News

The start of the season has been a bit of a whirlwind for Kolby Allard, and the Rangers’ pitcher has yet to pitch in a game.

He started training camp by working up to a starter’s pitch count. Then, when he made the team as a lefty reliever, he started to frame his work around that role. And now, on Sunday, he’ll have to be a starter again — this time replacing two-time Cy Young award winner Corey Kluber in the rotation.

“Obviously that’s like the elephant in the room,” Allard said. “But obviously there’s no way you can really replace Corey.”

Allard will do his best though. He gets his first start Sunday in Texas’ finale against the Giants. He’s slated to go no more than 80 pitches, though likely less than that.

Regardless, it’s the beginning of a chance for Allard to solidify his role in the organization as a member of the starting rotation.

“He is not scared of anybody, he’s got all the pitches,” said Rangers ace Lance Lynn. “He’s just got to get some games and seasoning under his belt to really hone some things in but all the stuff is there. Just make sure he is on the attack. If he does that, he’s going to be fine.”

Allard, 22, has made just 10 major league starts and has a 6.08 ERA in 12 appearances. Three of those appearances came in a tough debut with Atlanta in 2018. But he impressed in nine starts with the Rangers last season after coming to the team midseason. He had a 4.96 ERA over 451/3 innings.

After Kluber went down with a shoulder injury July 26, it was Joe Palumbo who came out of the bullpen to eat up the innings. And, in theory, the spot in the rotation came down to either Palumbo or Allard. But the day after Palumbo’s mostly successful outing, the Rangers announced Allard had the job.

“In most other circumstances, I think we would have penciled Kolby Allard into our rotation and been good with that,” general manager Jon Daniels said Monday. “It’s not fair to ask anybody to be Corey Kluber, but could [Allard] give you the kind of performance for 21/2 months that Corey would? I think he can.”

In terms of what Allard can bring in the short term, Woodward expects him almost to operate like a reliever. Go as hard as you can for as long as you can, he said.

Once he gets to 50 pitches Sunday, Woodward said he’ll be checking in with the catchers to get a sense of how Allard looks, and if he’s good to continue. At some point this season, he can hopefully get up to 100 or more pitches. But not right away.

“Let’s not worry about how many pitches you’re going to get up to,” Woodward said, “let’s just try to get through every inning as hard as you can. If that means your pitch count is going to be a little lower because you’re going to run out of gas, that’s fine.”

Allard said he doesn’t want to look at this opportunity as a chance to prove his capability long term as a major league starter. Obviously, that’s the goal, but not his mind-set.

Six major league teams aren’t even playing this weekend because of COVID-19, and the threat of a season suspension is not out of the question. Woodward even said as much pregame on Saturday.

So for Allard, the plan is to just do what he can with whatever opportunities he has.

“With the whole coronavirus situation, we’re kind of just taking things day-by-day around here, game-by-game, start-by-start,” Allard said. “I’m just gonna go out there, every time I’m given the ball, go out there and pitch as deep into the ballgame as I can.”

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