Mets top pitching prospect Matt Allan sees long-term benefit staying patient with Tommy John rehab

Matt Allan, one of the Mets top pitching prospects, underwent Tommy John surgery in May of 2021, pushing back his MLB ETA. Because of the timing of his surgery, he could very well miss all of the 2022 season.

However, he has an attitude you don't hear often out of top prospects trying to make a name for themselves: he's okay with that.

Selfishly, one couldn't blame Allan for wanting to get back on the mound as soon as possible. But there's a much bigger picture - he wants a legitimate, healthy baseball career.

“I definitely want to pitch [this year]. But I think the biggest thing in my head is just, I want to feel good. I know that I’m part of the future, I’m not really part of the right now for the organization," Allan told reporters at the Mets' minor league camp in Port St. Lucie, Fla. on Saturday. 

Allan is not willing to sacrifice his potential long-term success by hurrying from the grueling rehab.

"I want to pitch in the big leagues for 10, 12 years. I don’t want to pitch in the big leagues for a year and then go down with another injury," he said. "And so making sure that this whole things goes right is on the forefront of everybody’s mind, especially mine. I feel awesome right now, I can’t wait to play catch. I know when I was throwing through TJ, it was going really, really well. Ball was coming out really out, but I’m even more excited to see how good I feel now.

“I think any time you go through a TJ rehab, the most important thing is the ligament heals properly and that you’re feeling good, you’re feeling strong, you’re feeling confident. Because there’s really no point for someone at my age to push. There’s no point, there’s no real gain. I think everybody kind of sees it that way. It took a little bit of time – obviously as a competitor, someone as competitive as myself, all you want to do is pitch against hitters, all you want to do is start throwing, throwing against bullpens, get hitters in the box, but I think as I’ve gotten a little older, matured, you just start to realize the bigger picture of baseball that you don’t want to pitch in Double-A, and that’s it. I want to pitch 12 years in the big leagues, be a Hall of Famer, be someone like Jacob deGrom that people can remember.”

There was, and still is, a chance Allan could pitch in the 2022 season, But he did have a setback in January where he had to get a nerve moved - he is, however, slated to start throwing again in early March.

Allan said the team has not ruled him out for this year, but all parties agree that Allan's top priority needs to getting back to 100 percent, rather than getting on the mound this season.

"The goal for this season was just for me to be healthy and feeling good whenever that should be," he explained. "At this point, I’m not really thinking too much about a timeline. I’m more so just wanting to feel good. I know the organization just wants me to feel good and feel really confident that I’m ready to go. There’s no real timeline on coming back...

"I think at this point, everybody just kind of wants to do what’s best for me. I know the organization has been really good about wanting to do what’s best for me. Really, I think it’s on me when I feel ready to go.”

Allan said his elbow was a bit of a ticking timebomb - he had been pitching with a partially torn UCL since he was "15 or 16."

And despite admitting that not every day goes well in the rehab process, prior to his January elbow cleanup, he was throwing with plenty of confidence, and he expects that to remain when he throws again.

"I know everything's great, said Allan, noting doctors have told him his UCL looks "fantastic."

“That’s really all that mattered to me, because that’s all that’s gonna matter in the long run, is how the ligament holds up… It’s given me a lot of confidence just so far that every bad day that I have, every day I’m like ‘something doesn’t really feel totally right,’ it’s just like, ‘hey, everything’s all good,'" he added.

It hasn't been an ideal start for Allan to his professional career - he threw just 10.1 innings of Low-A ball in 2019, the 2020 season was cancelled, and he underwent Tommy John before throwing a pitch in the 2021 season.

But he is just 20 years old - he's not a top prospect on accident. If all goes well, Allan could see the long-term success he and Met fans desire.