Matthew Allan/Photo by Ed Delany, MMO

The Mets sent shockwaves through baseball when they drafted Matthew Allan in the third round of this year’s draft. By and large, Allan was seen as a first round talent, but he had gone undrafted until that point largely because of sign-ability concerns. The Mets took the risk, and they doubled down by drafting a string of collegiate upper classmen who would sign at well under slot value.

With the Mets draft strategy focused upon drafting Allan much of the success of how this draft class and strategy will be viewed rises and falls with Allan. So far, the Mets have to like the early returns of their decision as Allan has been pitching very well in the Gulf Coast League.

In his first four appearances, Allan has allowed just one earned run and four hits in 6.1 innings pitched. He has also struck out eight batters over that stretch. These results are the result of Allan flashing to type of stuff which had many eager to add him to their organization in this year’s draft.

Highlighted in the video is Allan’s curve. In their draft report, Baseball America called it a “a true, 12-to-6 curveball” which along with his fastball could “could project as 70-grade offerings down the line.” MLB Pipeline called the pitch “a plus power curve he can throw for strikes, missing bats consistently.” Perfect Game called it his best pitch noting Allan’s curve had “very consistent spin and very good feel, strikeout pitch.”

Along with that curve which already appears to be a strikeout pitch, as alluded to earlier, Allan has showed increased velocity with his fastball. At the time of the draft, he had been throwing somewhat consistently in the mid 90s topping out around 97 MPH. More than just the sheer velocity was the fact his fastball moved.

With the fastball and the curve, Allan has so far over-matched Gulf Coast hitters in a similar fashion to the way he dominated high school hitters leading up to the draft. The question going forward is whether his developing change-up will reach a level where it needs to be in order for him to be a starter in the long term.

For now, Allan has proven those who viewed him as a first round talent to be right in their assessment. He has so far made the Mets look like geniuses for taking the gamble and to sign him. Based upon the Mets recent approach in handling prospects of his caliber, we may very well see him beginning next year in Columbia. It should be exciting to see how his plus stuff plays against a higher level of competition.