FIU lefty Logan Allen’s mature approach has him rated as a top-two-rounds prospect in MLB Draft

As the June 10-11 MLB Draft approaches, the anticipation grows for FIU left-hander Logan Allen, rated by Baseball America as the No. 56 prospect in the nation, which, if correct, would make him a second-round pick.

FIU pitching coach Willie Collazo, a 10th-round pick of the Atlanta Braves in 2001 and a former big-league lefty, knows what it takes to be a pro, and he sees those qualities in Allen.

“You can put Logan in Double A right now, and he will dominate because he has three pitches [fastball, slider, changeup], he’s not afraid to throw inside, and his mechanics are excellent,” Collazo said.

“Usually, a lefty’s mechanics are funky. But Logan is smooth.

“I’ve worked with a lot of guys who are in the majors now, and Logan has that ‘it’ factor.”

Allen, a 6-0, 180-pound junior from the Daytona Beach area, has had a standout career at FIU.

As a freshman, he went 5-5 with a 3.89 ERA. His 10.34 strikeouts per nine innings broke the school record for freshmen.

He went 4-6 with a 3.11 ERA as a sophomore. Batters hit. 231 against him, and Allen’s 12.9 strikeouts per nine is the third-highest rate in FIU history.

In four starts this year, Allen went 2-1 with a career-low 2.45 ERA and a career-best 14.6 strikeouts per nine. In total, he struck out 41 batters and walked just six in 25 2/3 innings. Batters hit just .183 against him.

Allen — the 2020 Preseason Conference USA Pitcher of the Year — had one of his best performances against George Mason with seven scoreless innings and just one hit — a single — and one walk while tying his career high with 13 strikeouts.

Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic stopped what could’ve been a great year for Allen.

“Logan was going to have his best year yet,” FIU coach Mervyl Melendez said of Allen, who is also a good student with a 3.1 GPA while majoring in criminal justice. “His slider and changeup were a lot better than in his first two years here, and he attacked hitters more.”

The end of the 2020 college baseball season was so abrupt and painful that Allen struggled with his emotions.

“I was one of the last ones on our team to clean out his locker because I knew that, once I did that, it would become real,” Allen said.

“This [pandemic] happened so fast. It caught a lot of us off guard. … I just have to continue to move forward.”

The next step forward is the draft, and Allen — whose pitching style has been compared to that of Hall of Fame lefty Tom Glavine — figures to get selected fairly quickly.

Collazo, who just finished his first year as FIU’s pitching coach, did a lot of work with Allen on his changeup this past fall.

“When I got here, the scouting reports said Logan threw about 70 percent fastballs, 26 percent sliders and four percent changeups,” Collazo said.

Collazo had Allen throw his changeup a lot this past fall so he could develop the pitch. He had Allen go three or four innings without even throwing the slider, holding that pitch in reserve and honing his change and overall command.

“I wanted him to get to a point this season where he could throw 60 percent fastballs, 20 percent sliders and 20 percent changeups,” Collazo said. “He gets swings and misses on his fastball because his spin rate is already major-league average.

“His fastball is 90-92 [mph], touching 93 and 94. But when he throws it inside, it looks like 96.”

Collazo said Allen and his fellow FIU pitchers called their own games this past season.

“If I call the game for them, they’re going to learn how to follow directions, but they are not going to learn how to pitch,” Collazo said. “The whole idea is to develop pitchers.

“Logan knows how to read a scouting report. He knows how to do his shoulder exercises and how to develop a routine in between starts. Whoever drafts him, will get a guy who is ready to go.”