New York Mets Prospect Matt Allan Back on the Mound After Surgeries, Setbacks

Matt Allan finally has a chance to stop thinking about what might have been -- and start focusing on what his career as a major league pitcher still can be.

Once a third-round draft pick out of high school in the 2019 MLB Draft, Allan ranked as high as baseball’s No. 75 prospect ahead of the 2021 season. But then it all fell apart for the right-hander, who at 23 is at spring training with the New York Mets in Port St. Lucie, Fla., and healthy for the first time in four years.

“Definitely, the dream is there."

The #Mets' top pitching prospect from 2020-22, Matt Allen has battled through two Tommy John surgeries.

The 23-year-old righty is eager to pitch in the Minors this year: https://t.co/UAL7FGMIRB pic.twitter.com/0UFojZquCk
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) February 19, 2025

So high were the Mets on Allan that they signed him for $2.5 million – about four times the value of his draft slot. After the draft, he appeared in six games (five starts) at the starting rungs in the Mets system and was 1-0 with an ERA of 2.61. He pitched just 10.1 innings and struck out 11 in 2019.

As with all minor leaguers, Allan lost his competitive season in 2020 due to the pandemic. But when 2021 arrived, so did the first of three major operations, including two Tommy John surgeries.

In January, he joined fellow Mets prospects at the team’s pitching development camp. MLB.com reported that a now-healthy Allan has the radar gun hitting 94 to 97 mph during bullpen sessions and live batting practice.

“Definitely, the dream is there,” Allan told MLB.com. “It’s easy to get caught up in where I want to go, but the biggest thing I learned from rehab is I just have to be where my feet are. I have to be present and grounded and where I am today. … Stack as many of those days as possible, and then we’ll see that dream lived out.”

And where, to start. He is expected to head to a Mets’ affiliate out of spring training, but it isn’t clear yet where he’ll start his 2025 season – and just how many rungs he can climb up the ladder this year.

He’s already drawn the praise of Andy Green, the Mets' senior vice president of player development, who told MLB.com this about the 6-foot-3 Allan:

“It’s a heck of a journey, if you think about it, to get back to a mound competitively. Every person that’s been around him has raved about the type of person he is, his makeup, his work ethic. I don’t know that it’s possible that a coaching group and a rehab group and a training staff could be pulling any harder for somebody than we all are pulling for him.”

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