ARLINGTON, Texas — Given all that he has been through over the past four years – two major elbow surgeries, a life-threatening experience and emergency surgery not to mention months and months off monotonous, solitary rehab – it isn’t surprising that Dustin May has changed as a person.
“Just being out of the game so long, I grew more of a respect for it, knowing it can be taken away at a moment’s notice,” the Dodgers right-hander said.
What is surprising is that May doesn’t appear to have changed as a pitcher.
Three starts into his comeback (he will make his fourth start of this season Tuesday at Wrigley Field), May has allowed just two earned runs in 17 innings while holding hitters to a .119 batting average (7 for 59) with 14 strikeouts.
“There’s always lightning coming out of that arm,” Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior said. “That’s never been a question. During both of his rehabs, his first ’pens when most guys would be barely topping 80 (mph), low 80s, he’s sneezing out 90 without even trying.
“The arm talent has never been a question. So, no, I’m not surprised with him.”
If Tommy John surgery in 2021 and flexor repair plus a Tommy John revision in 2023 has changed May’s arsenal, Will Smith hasn’t noticed it from the receiving end.
“No. Still the same sort of stuff. Same slider, four-seam, cutter. Same mix. Still throwing hard. Still throwing nasty,” Smith recounted.
“No (change), honestly. He’s always had really good stuff. He still has really good stuff.”
As Tommy John surgery has become more and more routine among MLB pitchers, two-time Tommy John recoveries have also become more common with pitchers as accomplished as Jacob deGrom and Walker Buehler – and, soon, Shohei Ohtani – returning to the mound after second elbow-reconstruction procedures. Recovering from a second surgery is one thing, recovering prior form and success is another. Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi leads a very short list that also includes, to varying degrees, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Daniel Hudson and Jameson Taillon.
May never thought he wouldn’t recover his previous pitching arsenal.
“I didn’t think that it wouldn’t come back,” he said. “I didn’t know that it was going to be as effective as it’s been because I hadn’t pitched in so long. So the thought process behind it all – was it going to play as well as it did before? But my stuff is pretty much the same, just a tick down – which is still pretty good.”
Those ticks are hard to identify in the statistical profile created by May’s first three starts in this chapter of his herky-jerky career.
The velocity is down on all of his pitches. He averaged approximately 98 mph on his fastball over his first four seasons – even his brief return from that first surgery in 2022 when May said he was never more than “75 percent” and “never felt right.” It has been 95.1 mph this season, a drop May dismisses as temporary.
“I think it’s just early in the year, getting into the swing of things,” he said. “I mean, I’m still only nine months out of my esophagus surgery. I’m still getting strength back. Just being able to put the jersey back on is an accomplishment in itself. Once more strength comes back and I get more back to normal, I think it’s going to tick back up.”
He is still throwing his slider/sweeper with roughly the same spin rate and movement profile. But somehow it has been even more effective. May has thrown 88 of them in his first three starts and hitters are 0 for 21 when putting it in play. According to Statcast, batters have yet to put the barrel of the bat on it.
There’s a simple explanation for that, May said, and it’s more of a mental adjustment than any physical change.
“Because I’m throwing it in the zone,” he said. “It’s not like, oh they see spin they know they can spit on it because if it’s in the zone they at least have to put a thought on it now. That’s why it’s more effective.”
Prior agreed and said that’s something the Dodgers’ pitching coaches have preached to May for years. May’s Statcast profile also shows he is throwing from a lower arm slot since his return, something that could be making his sweeper and cutter even more troublesome for hitters.
“Everybody sees that kind of movement. But it’s a unique slot. It’s a unique delivery,” Prior said. “(As a hitter) you’re protecting against, when it’s going well, 35-plus inches of spread (among his pitches).
“It’s about getting in the zone with it, making them understand you can pitch with this or you can pitch with your fastball. Then as soon as they’re geared up for fastball, that thing (sweeper) goes the other way.”
May’s stuff has always had the potential to overwhelm hitters – and did during those brief, intermittent bursts of good health. The biggest difference now, he said, is his ability to contain his emotions on the mound and pitch with more respect and understanding of “the flow and rhythm of the game … instead of getting more irritated when things don’t go my way.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts sees that maturity in May, still only 27 years old despite his checkered medical history.
“I do. I think that with Dustin there’s always been a confidence in himself,” Roberts said. “But I think that the efficiency of the pitches, the flooding the strike zone, the ability to strike the secondary pitches, get the swing-and-miss when he needs it – I think the confidence is really building. It’s sustainable. I think it’s real. He’s understanding how to get major league hitters out, left and right.
“I think he’s certainly been through a lot in the last couple years, or even you could say the last four years. There’s been a lot of maturity. I think that he understands that more is not always more as far as effort or trying to bully hitters. He knows how to pitch, and make pitches.”
UP NEXT
Dodgers (RHP Dustin May, 1-1, 1.06 ERA) at Cubs (LHP Shota Imanaga, 2-1, 2.22 ERA), Tuesday, 4:40 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM
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