San Clemente HS lefty Kolby Allard is the best prep pitcher in this year's draft class, boasting the strongest combination of stuff, delivery, body and present ability of anyone in the group. He threw in the semifinal game of the annual Loara Tournament in Anaheim on Thursday night in front of a number of scouts, a crowd that included Arizona assistant GM De Jon Watson and at least five scouting directors or VPs. (I didn't spot anyone from Houston, which picks both second and fifth in this year's draft, at the game, but know the Astros were out in force at shortstop Brendan Rodgers' game in Florida that night.)

Allard wasn't at his best, struggling to locate his fastball most of the night, walking four hitters in four innings. He was 89-93 mph with some deception on the fastball, getting at least six swings and misses on the pitch by my count, and his curveball at 74-77 is one of the best in the draft from any pitcher, high school or college. The breaking ball has very tight rotation with true two-plane break, and he had more command of it on Thursday than he did of the fastball, using the pitch to get ahead or to try to get a swing and miss from right-handed hitters by throwing it at their back feet. He did flash a pair of changeups in the third inning, 82-83 with hard tumbling action.

Allard doesn't have much effort to his delivery, with a loose, quick arm and great extension out front that helps the fastball play up while getting that bite on his curveball. He hasn't had an outing this erratic all spring, but it wasn't the kind of outing I was hoping to see -- it was an opponent he should have just overpowered with stuff, but to their credit they waited him out and ended up getting into a number of hitters' counts against him. I still see him as a top 10 pick, probably a top-five talent, assuming this outing was a blip and not a sign that throwing strikes will be an issue going forward.

• Allard's catcher, Lucas Herbert, had a fair night, looking better on defense than at the plate. He can catch and throw, handling Allard very well on a night when doing so was probably more difficult than it normally is, throwing about average to second base, maybe a little better than average if you're grading just the pure arm strength. He has bat speed and strong hands but has such a tendency to drift over his front side that he's only going to pull the ball and was cutting through fastballs up in the zone. He'll probably be drafted fairly high thanks to his work with Allard and the fact he'll be scouted so frequently, although I'd put him more in the second/third-round mix right now.

• Aliso Niguel HS right-hander Kyle Molnar pitched earlier in the day in the same tournament, with very vanilla stuff. Molnar was a huge name as a high school sophomore, touching 94 back then as his body and stuff developed earlier than pitchers in the same class, but since then he's regressed somewhat, with a lower arm slot and less power and torque to his delivery, almost slinging the ball, getting some more fastball life at the cost of getting on the side of his slider. He might be drafted higher than this because of his history, but I saw a third/fourth-rounder on Thursday.