ST. LOUIS -- A Cardinals team hoping to supplement its young pitching staff with an experienced veteran has signed 6-foot-6 right-hander Dustin May to a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2027, the club announced Wednesday. Financial terms of the deal were not announced.
“It’s exciting to add someone with Dustin’s talent and upside to our rotation,” said Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom. “He’s already experienced pitching in and winning the World Series, as well as persevering through difficult injuries to return to health on a big league mound. We are happy that he will write the next chapter of his career here in St. Louis.”
May, 28, was 7-11 with a 4.96 ERA last season with the Dodgers and Red Sox in 25 games (23 starts). Boston acquired May at the Trade Deadline, but he pitched to a 5.40 ERA and was bothered by forearm soreness much of September.
May, who missed the 2024 season with arm injuries, struck out 123 hitters in 132 1/3 innings -- a career high in innings thus far in his six-year MLB career.
In a corresponding move, the team announced that outfielder Matt Koperniak has been designated for assignment to make room on the team’s 40-man roster. The Cards are hoping to pair May with Matthew Liberatore, Michael McGreevy, Andre Pallante, Kyle Leahy and Richard Fitts in the starting rotation.
St. Louis acquired Fitts and left-handed pitching prospect Brandon Clarke from the Red Sox on Nov. 25 in exchange for veteran right-hander Sonny Gray.
May's career has been a long and winding journey since he debuted in 2019 as a 21-year-old and one of the Dodgers’ top prospects.
When May made his season debut last April, he climbed a Major League mound for the first time in nearly two years. At one point, he went 648 days between appearing in a game at any level. In between, he underwent flexor tendon surgery -- his second major elbow procedure -- and an emergency operation for an esophageal tear.
So long as May can stay on the field, there’s still plenty of upside here.
That starts with his pitch mix. May’s sweeper is his go-to offering to both left-handed hitters and right-handed hitters, and for good reason. It touts outlier side-to-side movement, with 16.9 inches of average horizontal break. That pairs well with his sinker, which breaks an average of 18.9 inches in the opposite direction – mirroring his sweeper. May is able to generate such extreme horizontal movement from a low arm slot.
May also throws a four-seam fastball and a cutter, giving him a three-fastball mix, a recent trend in modern pitching designed to befuddle the hitter.
Before needing Tommy John surgery in May 2021, May had the makings of a legitimate star. He carried a 2.93 ERA through his first 31 career appearances and was a key part of the Dodgers’ World Series-winning team in 2020.