Dustin May made his Cactus League debut on Sunday as he competes for the fifth and final spot in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ rotation for the 2025 season.
But the outing was more than an average Spring Training appearance for May, who was pitching on a Major League mound for the first time in 648 days. Moreover, it was a return after having emergency esophageal surgery last year after a piece of lettuce became lodged in his throat.
May has demonstrated himself to be a talented pitcher, but injuries have limited him to just 34 appearances over the four non-shortened seasons under his belt thus far in his Major League career.
The injuries have been as frustrating for May as they have been for the Dodgers, and he is simply hoping to be the best pitcher he can be going forward.
“I mean, [expletive], I hope so. I don’t know what else I need to do, but I really, really hope it’s just pitching from now on,” May answered when asked if he believes focus can remain on the field.
After allowing the first two batters of the inning to reach base, May induced a double play and collected a strikeout to complete his work for the day unscathed. It is only the beginning, but even the longest journeys begin with a single step.
“I’m alive, I’m glad I’m here. Just huge excitement and like I said, weight coming off my shoulders. It was like a breath of fresh air. Like a new beginning,” May said.
“It felt amazing just to be back. A huge, huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders, it feels like. Getting back to the dugout, even if it wouldn’t have been a clean inning, getting back in the dugout, feeling good being here, it was really, really heavy.”
Locked in a competition against Tony Gonsolin and Bobby Miller for a spot in the Opening Day rotation, May was the last of the trio to make his first appearance this Cactus League season.
A lot more than raw statistics will factor into the Dodgers’ final decision, like the ability to navigate traffic on the basepaths.
“That’s just pitching. Just trying to not allow a run. Getting back to normal, getting back to the swing of things, trying to figure out how to get through stuff. That’s part of baseball,” May said of working through trouble against the San Diego Padres.
Dustin May ‘back to normal’
After undergoing two major elbow surgeries in the span of three seasons, there is real concern about whether May’s stuff will be the same as it was earlier in his career.
The early returns are promising so far, with his fastball sitting around 94-95 mph. It is slightly below averages from 2023, when May’s two-seamer averaged 96.6 mph and his four-seam averaged 97.3 mph.
But May is not concerned with what flashes on the radar gun at the moment, as long as he is locating his pitches the way he wants to.
“Velo for me right now, I don’t really care about it at all. I’m just glad to be here. If it goes up, it goes up,” he said. “If it stays there, I’m going to be just fine. As long as I’m throwing strikes with everything, everything is going to be fine. … Everything is back to normal.
“The velo is where it’s at, but all the shapes, metrics, releases and everything, are all back to normal.”
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