J.T. Ginn becomes untouchable with latest Matt Allan news

The New York Mets farm system isn’t flush with pitching talent at the moment. So to hear Matt Allan may miss all of the 2022 season should raise some alarms.

Even if he is just 20 going on 21, the 2019 draft pick may enter 2023 with only 10.1 innings of professional experience. Worse than that, it’s a huge layoff from eating innings. The 2023 season will, at best, be a year for him to rehab in games and work his way back to what he used to be before the Mets drafted him.

All injuries have a cause and effect. For the Mets, it makes their second best pitching prospect, J.T. Ginn, untouchable.

J.T. Ginn became a lot more important to the Mets this past week

Ginn had an interesting path to the professionals. He was a first-round draft pick out of high school in 2018 by the Los Angeles Dodgers. He opted to go to college where he became a second-rounder by the Mets.

An injury in college hurt his draft stock. Fortunately, he seems to have covered well and shown some promise down on the farm.

Between St. Lucie and Brooklyn, Ginn made 18 starts in 2021 while pitching to a 3.03 ERA. His 92 innings of work should impress us as a building block for even more innings ahead in 2022.

GInn may not have been a player the Mets revolved their entire draft around as they did with Allan. However, picking him up in 2020 in the second round when he had already been a first round pick two years prior shows some boldness by Brodie Van Wagenen whose positive legacy with the Mets could be based on what the guys he drafted accomplish. Ginn and Allan are two of those prospects BVW brought to the orange and blue. So far, Ginn looks like a hit. Allan will have to rehab to become the same.

There is no urgency for Allan to get to the big leagues but I can’t help but feel like it’s a wrong turn for a promising young career. He already missed all of 2020 due to the pandemic. Three full years of missed action could set him up poorly for a return.

Allan will remain the Mets' top pitching prospect at the start of this season. Ginn, who will get a chance to perform, could soon be breathing down his neck. Any speculation about him possibly getting traded now seems unlikely. Historically, the Mets have been a franchise to successfully develop young pitchers. Remove Ginn from the picture, their hopes of doing the same again rest solely with the uncertain recovery of Allan.