Last week, I speculated about how the Red Sox might change Dustin May’s arsenal to take him to the next level. My suggestions included throwing his four-seam higher, throwing backdoor sinkers, and increasing his cutter usage to righties. Because nobody else will, I’ll pat myself on the back and note that he did two of those three things on Tuesday against the Astros. I’ll also pat Matt Gross on the back for coming up with the headline for this.
May put in his best outing of the season on Tuesday night. He fired six shutout innings, striking out eight and walking one against a right-handed-heavy Astros’ lineup.
Through two innings, I was worried that the wheels were going to fall off for May. On his first trip through the lineup, he jumped ahead of five hitters 0-2 or 1-2. Non-competitive pitches and foul balls created multiple six and seven-pitch at-bats, forcing May to throw 44 pitches through two innings.
After that, he settled in and cruised through the next four innings. So, how did he do it?
Against righties, he continued to use his cutter earlier in at-bats. It was his third most-used pitch to right-handed hitters behind his sweeper and sinker, but he didn’t throw it a single time with two strikes. It returned 71% strikes, allowing May to work from ahead in the count. He also used his sinker consistently on the inside part of the plate, jamming righties for foul balls regularly.
Once ahead, he used his sweeper on the glove side and high fastballs to try to punch out hitters. His four-seam wasn’t overly effective; four of eight two-strike four-seams were fouled off, one went for a hit, and another was well above the zone. His sweeper only returned one strikeout against lefties, but he kept the ball off the plate and away from danger.
Against lefties, he used his sweeper to great effect. May threw his sweeper in any count, getting strikes at an 86% rate. He threw it to the back foot and on the outside edge, for called strikes and whiffs. While sweepers don’t typically perform well against opposite-handed hitters, May executed his consistently and kept hitters off balance with a mix of four-seams, sinkers, and cutters behind it.
Video is cooler than words [Ed. Note: no it’s not], so let’s see it in action.
2nd Inning – Taylor Trammell
May starts Trammell off with a sweeper and gets an early whiff. Trammell was clearly sitting fastball and was fooled by the 0-0 breaking ball.
At 0-1, May tries to go back inside with the sweeper, but misses outside. After back-to-back sweepers, he should go to something else.
He tries to go inside with the four-seam, but misses again. While this pitch gets some of the plate, it’s not a disastrous miss. At 96 mph with a flat approach angle, Sanchez can only foul it off. Now, with two strikes, May can throw whatever feels most confident in.
He goes to the sweeper, but it’s a bit too low to get a swing. I’d throw it again, but he might not want to repeat the sweeper-sweeper-fastball sequence.
He again tries to go inside with the four-seam but can’t hit his spot. Trammell fouls it off again, though the swing tells me this might have worked. It’s an emergency swing, indicating that Trammell was looking for something soft. If he saw a pitch inside, he might have watched it, assuming it would continue running towards him. Instead, it stays out, and he gets a bat on it at the last second.
Great pitch. May goes back to the sweeper, and Trammell is fooled. It’s dotted in the corner of the zone, and the stuff does the rest.
3rd Inning – Carlos Correa
This is a really good pitch to begin an at-bat. It’s a cutter that lands on the outside edge and is fouled off by Correa. He’s looking for something, probably a sinker, middle-in, but instead gets a cutter. The movement carries it to the outside edge, and he’s quickly down 0-1.
At 0-1, May hits his spot with the sinker and gets a foul ball. At 0-2, May can use whatever he feels most confident in. I’d probably go to the sweeper away, but a backdoor sinker might also work if he’s feeling cheeky.
He tries to go to the sweeper outside, but misses on the arm side. He’s a little fortunate that Correa can only foul this off. May can still throw whatever he wants, but he might want to stay away from the sweeper with Correa timed up for it.
Perfect. May does have faith in executing the sweeper and spots it perfectly. Correa is looking for something else, lunges at it, and rolls into a double play.
Overall, I’m still not entirely sold on May, but I am more confident going forward. He was excellent against righties, and the approach appears to be repeatable. Against lefties, I’m not as sold. As you saw, he really had to fight with Trammell after going ahead 1-2. He’s had walk issues against lefties in the past, in part due to his 60% strike rate with his sweeper. Using the pitch in the zone more frequently, as he did tonight (67% zone rate, up from season 45%), will lead to more strikes, but he could also see opponents start hunting sweepers. All in, this was good, but I’d like to see him do it again before I feel confident about Dustin May bump days going forward.
