Mets prospect Matt Allan ready for first full season: 'I just feel pretty dominant'

Top Mets pitching prospect Matt Allan, who will begin the year with the High-A Brooklyn Cyclones on May 4, is ready for the challenge of his first full professional season.

Allan, who was selected in the third round (89th overall) of the 2019 MLB Draft after sliding due to signability concerns, got a taste of the minors in 2019 when he impressed with the GCL (Rookie level) Mets and Brooklyn, which was at the time the Mets' short season Low-A affiliate.

But his 2020 season  was wiped out due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as was the case for every minor leaguer, with Allan getting his work in at the Mets' Alternate Site instead.

After getting a taste of big league camp during spring training earlier this year -- when he was paired with Jacob deGrom -- Allan is feeling "dominant" as he prepares to again face minor league hitters.

"Now being in minor league camp, I think I really feel -- I think a good way to say it is just dominant," Allan told reporters on Thursday via Zoom. "I think facing some of the big leaguers and 40-man guys and just generally older guys, to facing kind of my level, High-A guys, Double-A guys, I think honestly I just feel pretty dominant, and I'm looking to take that into the season."

Allan said he has stayed in touch with Marcus Stroman since the end of camp while also getting to spend some time around Noah Syndergaard and the other big league players who have been rehabbing at the Mets' complex in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

And Allan feels like he'll have an edge being back in Brooklyn with the Cyclones to start the year.

"I think honestly it's just very fitting," he said. ". ... I feel like I'm very comfortable with the ballpark and I feel like I kind of have an edge -- a competitive edge -- over the competition just because I know kind of how the field plays, like how the wind works with being right on the water, and I feel like I know how to pitch guys."

Allan -- SNY's No. 2 overall Mets prospect -- has top of the rotation potential, with a three-pitch mix that features a fastball, changeup, and curve, and could possibly make his big league debut in 2023.

For now, though, he'll keep honing his skills in the minors.

"I think for me it's constant improvement on all my pitches in general," Allan said when asked what his goals are this season. "I think right now there's not really a certain pitch that's lagging behind. I felt like coming out of high school I didn't really have a third pitch, but now I feel like I have three really solid pitches.

"But the name of the game is constantly adapting, so I'm gonna need to constantly improve those pitches, and constantly improve my control. I think the biggest thing that I want to be able to say I did five months from now is just control what I can control."

BRETT BATY TALKS ALLAN

Speaking shortly after Allan, Mets infield prospect Brett Baty suggested Allan's rise to the majors could be quick.

“He’s not far off at all," Baty said. "He’s right there for sure. He just needs to clean up a few things, but it’s definitely not that long of a road ahead for him for sure.”