The Dodgers plan to activate righty Dustin May from the 60-day injured checklist to begin Saturday’s sport towards the Marlins, supervisor Dave Roberts advised reporters (including Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic). It’ll be his first MLB look in over 15 months, because the 24-year-old has been out of motion since present process Tommy John surgical procedure in Might 2021.
One of many sport’s high pitching prospects by the point he reached the majors in 2019, Might has excelled in his restricted huge league seems thus far. He broke in as a swingman in 2019, beginning simply 4 of his 14 appearances that yr. Might picked up 10 begins (out of 12 outings) throughout the shortened 2020 season, and he was a full-fledged member of the rotation for the primary month final yr earlier than incurring the elbow harm.
An elite ground-ball artist, Might posted a glowing 2.62 ERA with a barely above-average 24.9% strikeout charge over his first two huge league campaigns. That was promising sufficient, however he seemed as if he could be rising as an ace-caliber hurler by the primary month of 2021. Averaging slightly below 99 MPH on his fastball, Might struck out an eye-popping 37.6% of batters confronted whereas racking up grounders on 56% of the batted balls he did permit by his first 5 begins. He posted a 2.74 ERA over that stretch, however he was pressured out of his fifth outing with the harm that finally value him over a yr of motion.
Might returned to an expert mound round 14 months later, making his first rehab look with the Dodgers advanced league group. After two innings there, he reported to Triple-A Oklahoma Metropolis for one more three weeks to construct again into MLB form. Might has made 5 begins with OKC, tossing 19 frames of four-run ball with a 33:6 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Extra essential than the outcomes, he’s constructed again to 5 innings in every of his final two begins, tossing 68 and 70 pitches, respectively. It’s unlikely the Dodgers will depend on him to run a pitch depend within the triple digits proper out of the gate, however a 75-85 pitch outing towards Miami might be within the playing cards. Might figures to progressively construct his pitch depend from there and may have ample time to transition to a conventional starter’s workload earlier than the postseason will get below manner.
If he can instantly recapture his 2021 kind, Might would show an enormous increase for a membership that once more has World Collection aspirations. They had been dealt a troublesome blow with the revelation that Walker Buehler must bear elbow surgery and gained’t return this season. Nonetheless, the group has gotten sub-3.00 ERA performances from all three of their starters to eclipse 100 innings this yr: Julio Urías, Tony Gonsolin and offseason signee Tyler Anderson. Pair that trio with Might, a probable late-season return from Clayton Kershaw — who continues to dominate when wholesome sufficient to take the mound — and a few small pattern excellence from Andrew Heaney, and the Dodgers nonetheless have the potential to run 5 – 6 very robust starters out in October. If everybody’s wholesome, one or two members of that group determine to trickle over into the bullpen, which itself ranks fourth within the majors with a 3.16 ERA.
