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Dodgers Injured Starting Pitcher Posts Exciting Update Regarding Return

After a long stretch with no updates, the right-hander gets back on a mound.
J.P. Hoornstra|
Feb 18, 2024; Glendale, AZ, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Tony Gonsolin (26), starting pitcher Dustin May (85) and relief pitcher Joe Kelly (99) lean on a fence in the bull pen during spring training at Camelback Ranch. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 18, 2024; Glendale, AZ, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Tony Gonsolin (26), starting pitcher Dustin May (85) and relief pitcher Joe Kelly (99) lean on a fence in the bull pen during spring training at Camelback Ranch. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

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Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers have been patiently waiting for Dustin May to return to their pitching staff since he underwent a right flexor tendon repair in addition to an ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction revision in July 2023.

News of the surgery came as a shock. May had only returned from his first Tommy John surgery in 2022, but never felt 100 percent thereafter.

“I wouldn’t say that I ever felt more than probably 75 percent," May said in spring training. "It hurt every throw. Everybody always says it always hurts (after Tommy John surgery) and then one day it just clicks. I was waiting for that. Mine – instead of getting better, it kept getting worse and getting worse. It kept climbing in the wrong direction."

Against this backdrop, almost any news qualifies as good news if it brings May closer to a major league mound. Tuesday marked a major milestone, as May marked off his first throws off a mound since last year's surgery:

May, 26, has gone 12-9 with a 3.10 ERA in 46 games (34 starts) over parts of five seasons with the Dodgers. He's never made more than 14 major league appearances in a single season, and that's unlikely to change this season.

If May is able to return later this year, he might choose the shorter ramp-up to a bullpen role. The Dodgers' starting rotation has a 3.24 earned-run average — fifth in Major League Baseball — through Monday. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, James Paxton and Gavin Stone have all pitched well without missing a start.

While Bobby Miller is currently on the injured list, he's scheduled to throw a three-inning simulated game Tuesday that could foretell a quick return. Walker Buehler is coming off his best start in two years. Landon Knack has a 2.61 ERA in his first four major league starts, but there's currently no room for him in the major league rotation.

Meanwhile, Clayton Kershaw is throwing bullpens too, and he is practically assured of a spot in the Dodgers' rotation as soon as he declares himself ready. Kershaw re-signed on a one-year contract after undergoing shoulder surgery last November.

If May was planning to return as a starting pitcher, news of his first bullpen would be only one small step in a still-long process. But considering the odds May could return as a relief pitcher, the idea of his returning this season just became a lot more realistic.

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J.P. Hoornstra
J.P. HOORNSTRA

J.P. Hoornstra is an On SI Contributor. A veteran of 20 years of sports coverage for daily newspapers in California, J.P. covered MLB, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Los Angeles Angels (occasionally of Anaheim) from 2012-23 for the Southern California News Group. His first book, The 50 Greatest Dodgers Games of All-Time, published in 2015. In 2016, he won an Associated Press Sports Editors award for breaking news coverage. He once recorded a keyboard solo on the same album as two of the original Doors.

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