Top Mets pitching prospect Matt Allan to undergo Tommy John surgery

Tough news coming out of New York Friday as it was revealed that Matt Allan will undergo Tommy John surgery sometime this month, per Deesha Thosar of New York Daily News. Allan is the Mets’ top pitching prospect and their third-ranked prospect overall by both Fangraphs and Baseball America, who each place Ronny Mauricio and Francisco Alvarez in the top two spots.

Baseball Prospectus, however, slots Allan ahead of Alvarez as the Mets’ second-ranked prospect. Jeffrey Paternostro of BP wrote just a couple of days ago, “There isn’t a ton to look forward to in 2021 if you are a Mets prospect watcher. It’s a thin, top-heavy system. The top is quite good however, and Allan stands out as the prospect most likely to take a big step forward. His fastball velocity has continued to creep up as a pro, along with spin rates that push it into the plus-plus range. The breaking ball is a potential true hammer, and his changeup is coming along as well.” BP ranked Allan as the No. 79 prospect in all of baseball. He makes Fangraphs’ top-100 at No. 96, while Baseball America is a bit more bullish with a No. 86 valuation.

Allan was a third-round pick in the 2019 draft. As such, the 20-year-old California native has just 10 1/3 innings of professional pitching to his name. After 8 1/3 innings in Rookie ball back in 2019, Allan was promoted to Low-A for one two-inning outing to close out his first professional campaign. He’ll now miss all of this season as well as a good chunk of 2022.