The Los Angeles Dodgers announced Dustin May will undergo season-ending right elbow surgery on July 18 to repair his flexor tendon. The operation will be performed by renowned surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache.
May’s injury trouble began when he was removed after just one inning on May 17. He had two strikeouts and threw 16 pitches before leaving because of what the Dodgers initially deemed right elbow pain.
Manager Dave Roberts said after the game an MRI revealed May’s injury be a flexor pronator strain. “Not great right now,” Roberts added. “It’s an IL, and when he returns to play, I don’t know that answer.”
Additional testing on May’s right elbow did come with some encouraging news as his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) that was repaired during Tommy John surgery in 2021, remained intact and unaffected.
May was treated with a platelet-rich plasma injection that required him to refrain from throwing for several weeks.
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman recently acknowledged that elbow surgery was thought to be a requirement in the immediate aftermath of May’s injury, but the team had grown optimistic it could be avoided.
Ultimately, the PRP injection did not promote enough healing in May’s surgically-reconstructed elbow. The Dodgers did not set a timeline for his return, but the typical recovery period for a flexor tendon surgery is six to nine months.
However, Tarik Skubal went 11 months before pitching in a Major League game after his flexor tendon surgery in August 2022.
May went 4-1 with a 2.63 ERA, 3.27 FIP and 0.94 WHIP in nine starts this year, which was his first full season since undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Impact of Dustin May’s surgery on Dodgers rotation
With May no longer an option to help stabilize a starting rotation that’s dealt with mounting injuries, the Dodgers figure to aggressively explore adding a pitcher before the MLB trade deadline on August 1.
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