Guardians reunite with surprise bullpen savior of 2025 in savvy move

Last offseason the Guardians brought Kolby Allard in as a depth arm in a move that largely went unnoticed throughout baseball. 

And while Allard didn’t make Cleveland's roster out of spring training, he ended up becoming one of the most important Guardians thanks to Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz getting placed on paid leave. 

Even though Allard’s first tenure with the Guardians came to an end earlier this offseason when he was outrighted off Cleveland’s roster, he entered his way back into the fold on Monday by signing another minor league contract with the Guardians that includes an invite to big league spring training.

Kolby Allard is back with the Guardians after saving the team’s bullpen last season 

Last year Allard posted a 2.63 ERA in 65 innings, which is far and away the best season of his career. While Allard’s fastball sits at just 90.2 miles per hour, he finished in the 92nd percentile in walk rate (5.3%) along with being in the 87th percentile in barrel rate (5.7) and the 83rd percentile in hard-hit rate (35.9%). 

Although that arsenal has held him back in his career (5.34 ERA), he hit a new level with the Guardians last season, which is why the Guardians’ reunion with him isn’t a huge surprise.

Allard’s MLB journey started in 2015 when the Braves drafted him in the first round of the MLB Draft, and he ended up making his big league debut three seasons later. He only spent one season with Atlanta before the Braves flipped him to the Rangers at the deadline in 2019.

He spent parts of four seasons with the Rangers before returning to the Braves in 2023 before spending 2024 with the Phillies. 

The Guardians signed him to a minor league deal on the back of that season with the Phillies, which set up his strong bounce-back season in 2025. 

The Guardians called Allard up for the first time at the end of April and pitched in a variety of roles across the next two months but ended up being the roster casualty when the the Guardians needed a fresh arm after Luis Ortiz was placed on non-disciplinary paid leave. 

He ended up electing free agency after clearing waivers but re-signed with the Guardians on a minor league deal on July 8 and was called up to the majors the next day. 

Allard saved his best for last, as he finished the season with a 2.66 ERA in 20 1/3 innings across the final two months of the season as the Guardians went on their magical run to win the American League Central. 

Even though the Guardians cut him loose at the end of the season (likely because they didn’t want to pay him the $1.1 million he was projected to make via arbitration), he’s a great depth arm who should be one of the first players called up to help Cleveland’s new-look bullpen.