Prior to Saturday’s contest against the L.A. Angels, the Los Angeles Dodgers recalled top catching prospect Keibert Ruiz from their alternate site at USC. It was the corresponding move to Will Smith being placed on the 10-day injured list with neck inflammation.
Ruiz made his MLB debut the following day in the series finale, forming one of the youngest starting pitcher-catcher combos in Dodgers history with Dustin May (both 22 years old). “It was awesome,” May said.
“Me and Keibert have gotten pretty close over the last three years. He’s a great guy and I really like the way he calls a game. Being able to throw to him and have the comfort level of throwing to him in the past, it was really nice.”
Ruiz enjoyed a memorable debut, hitting a home run off Angels starter Julio Teheran in his first career at-bat. “People just want to get a hit in their first AB, much less a home run,” May said. “He went up there and showed out. It was phenomenal.”
As for the right-hander, he held the Angels to just two runs but only managed to pitch 4.1 innings. He threw a season-high 88 pitches and fell two outs short of qualifying for the win.
May attacked the Angels lineup with a heavy dose of changeups, and overall, was pleased by the results. “It’s always been there, I just haven’t really found many great spots to throw it. I thought it came along well and I thought it played very good against this lineup,” he explained.
“It was just little miscues with execution and a couple things didn’t go my way, got deep into counts, long ABs.”
Though he didn’t walk any batters in Sunday’s outing, May revealed that his top priority going forward is working on improving his command. “Just staying in the zone is probably my biggest thing, and being able to put the fastball on both sides of the plate and kind of play off that,” he said.
“It wasn’t really going to either side of the plate; it was a lot of middle-middle pitches. It was still getting weak contact but not much swing and miss on it as all.”
Dave Roberts: ‘Important’ for May to continue relying on secondary pitches
After experimenting with his changeup against the Angels, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts noted the importance of May continuing to do so in future starts. “Absolutely,” Roberts said of a pitcher’s ability to rely on secondary pitches.
“When you’re talking about a Major League starter, you’ve got to have different weapons because not every start are you going to have your complete mix. Not having the cut fastball like he usually does, to at least get them off that cutter with the changeup certainly is a benefit.”
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events and more!
