May scarcely threw his changeup before undergoing the surgery on his right elbow last year, but he used the downtime to hone it, making him a more confident and dangerous pitcher.
LOS ANGELES ― A National League scout who was assigned to cover the Dodgers in 2019 had a concise assessment of their precocious rookie pitcher, Dustin May. His repertoire, the scout said, consisted of “hard, harder, and hardest.”
May’s first postseason appearance offered proof of concept. Twice in the eighth inning of Game 2 of the National League Division Series, he threw a veteran Washington Nationals hitter a belt-high cutter. Twice, the ball was lined to the outfield for a hit. The latter scored a run. Welcome to the playoffs, kid.
What the scoreboard can’t show is the newfound confidence May has in his changeup, a pitch he scarcely threw upon his debut three years ago. The changeup does solve a potential problem, however. Thrown in the neighborhood of 87-88 mph, May’s changeup is faster than his curveball but slower than his cutter. It’s an in-between pitch. It transforms his repertoire from “hard, harder and hardest” to a four-pitch assortment potentially flying anywhere from 80 to 99 mph. The degrees of speed separating each pitch make May more dangerous, particularly against left-handers .
Since his debut, May has appeared in only 41 games between the regular season and postseason. By his own estimate, however, he’s thrown “a million bullpens” over the last year. That doesn’t count for anything on the stat sheet, but it has helped him accumulate confidence.
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