Once heralded as the next ace, Allen missed more than five years thanks to two Tommy John surgeries. Now, as healthy as he's been since well before the pandemic, he's ready to restart his baseball career.

Matt Allan unfurls his right elbow to show the longest of a few scars on his body, markings that work like a roadmap of an arduous journey no pitcher hopes to take. “It’s long,” Allan said as he slapped it while grinning,

Allan, a right-hander, has been out since 2021 after a pair of Tommy John surgeries stalled his promising career.

One scar runs up Matt Allan's right forearm, a reminder of an operation he would rather forget. A second frames his elbow, where two different surgeons cut in to replace his ulnar collateral ligament.