Dustin May Wants to Return to Dodgers as a Starting Pitcher
The Los Angeles Dodgers have the most loaded rotation in all of baseball. The weakest area on the team when the 2023 season ended, the Dodgers added Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and James Paxton to their young but injury-depleted unit over the offseason.
It’s a starting rotation that can be even better as some of their key cogs return to health. By late summer, Walker Buehler will likely have returned to the rotation. Clayton Kershaw should be ready at some point, too.
It’s often said a team can never have too many starting pitchers, but it’s worth asking where the Dodgers’ newfound depth leaves pitcher Dustin May. Is there room for him in the Dodgers’ rotation if the other starters are healthy?
Ask May, and he doesn’t see why he shouldn’t be a starter if he performs up to par. The 26-year-old right-handed pitcher spoke to the media, including Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group, and said he deserves to be in the stacked rotation when he returns.
“In my head right now, I’m good enough to be a starter and I would like to stay a starter. If I’m fully healthy I’m good enough to be in any rotation. That’s the biggest thing. I just need to be healthy. Then if it comes to it and I’m not good enough to be in it, then so be it. Hopefully I’m good enough to be in it.”
— Dustin May, via Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register
May and health have never been able to go hand in hand so far. In his five-year career, the righty has only pitched in 46 games, making 34 starts. In those games, he’s recorded a 12-9 record, 3.10 ERA, 174 strikeouts, 138 ERA+, and a 1.04 WHIP in only 191.1 innings.
His career high in innings pitched came in the 2020-shortened season, during which he pitched 56 innings (plus another 10.2 in the postseason). Health has not been on May’s side since 2019, the year he broke in with the Dodgers, but he’s looking to change that when he’s cleared to return.
When and if May is on, there’s no doubting his pitching prowess. The Texas native has some of the nastiest stuff in the league, along with his near triple-digit fastball, wicked two-seamer, and curveball. May has made opposing batters look foolish time and time again.
May’s 2023 season was cut short due to flexor tendon repair and a Tommy John revision in July. The typical timetable to return from a pitcher’s first Tommy John surgery is 12 to 18 months, so anything the Dodgers can get from May in 2024 should be considered a bonus.
Photo Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
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Dustin has kind of played himself into trade bait. He’s good when healthy but rarely is he healthy.
i have to wonder if he may prove to be a better reliever. He sure as hell has good stuff but I have to wonder if his arm will hold up to a career of pitching at that level as a starter… In my opinion their is nothing wrong with being a reliever as long as you’re a good one.