Cardinals' Dustin May Gives St. Louis Fans Something to Believe In

The St. Louis Cardinals signed one of the more intriguing free agent starting pitchers in baseball this past offseason.

St. Louis targeted 6'6'' flamethrower Dustin May early and landed him on a one-year, $12.5 million deal for the 2026 season with a $20 million mutual option for the 2027 campaign. May entered free agency at just 28 years old. When healthy, May has shown big upside throughout his career to this point, but the problem has been that he hasn't been able to stay healthy.

May made his big league debut all the way back in 2019 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. From 2019 through 2023, May had a 3.10 ERA, but appeared in just 46 total games, including 34 starts. May then missed the entire 2024 season. The Cardinals landed May after actually the healthiest season of his career so far in 2025. He set a new career high with 132 1/3 innings pitched, although he had a 4.96 ERA. Now, he's another year removed from his injury that knocked him out for the 2024 campaign.

Dustin May gave the Cardinals fanbase something to believe in

Feb 14, 2026; Jupiter, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Dustin May (3) arrives for a workout during spring training at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The big righty made his Spring Training debut for St. Louis on Thursday and gave the fanbase some hope. May pitched three scoreless innings and allowed just one base hit and struck out one batter. May's velocity was back as well. The flamethrower was sitting between 97-99 miles per hour with his fastball.

Dustin May averaged 95.4 MPH on his fastball in 2025. He was consistently sitting 97-99 today on March 5th, and allowed 1 hit in 3 innings.

Quinn Mathews pitched 2.2 innings and 7 of his 8 outs were strikeouts.

Today was a very positive day of Spring Training 🔥 pic.twitter.com/zyqGm51WNm
— Cardinals Stats And Facts (@STL_Stats_Facts) March 5, 2026

Another thing that stood out was May's usage of his curveball, which analyst Thomas Nestico pointed out that he hasn't regularly used since 2019.

Dustin May is throwing his old curveball again!

The last time May regularly used his curveball was in his rookie season with the Dodgers in 2019. The reintroduction of this pitch seems like a no-brainer given his elite ability to spin the ball. Perhaps a resurgence in 2026? pic.twitter.com/0n172hUNwE
— Thomas Nestico (@TJStats) March 5, 2026

For May, it was a good introduction to the Cardinals' fanbase in game action. At just 28 years old, there's still endless upside with May. If he can stay healthy, he has top-of-the-rotation upside. The talent has always been there. Right now, he's fully healthy and was dominant on Thursday. If, and it's a big if, he stays healthy, we could very well be talking about May as a massive win for Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom in the coming months on that deal.