Dustin

May

May struck out four and walked one, but posted just a six percent whiff rate and threw only 55 percent of his first-pitches for strikes. You might get away with streaming May next week against the Marlins, but it’s really hard to trust a pitcher in fantasy baseball who misses so few bats.

The 28-year-old right-hander struck out four batters on the night and did not allow a base on balls. The Red Sox scratched out a pair of runs against him in the second inning on a fielder’s choice, an error and Trevor Story stealing home on a double steal. That was the extent of the damage though as May turned in his best start of the season against his former club. He got seven whiffs on 75 pitches on the night, posting a CSW of 32 percent. He’ll try to further improve upon his cringe-inducing 9.45 ERA and 1.80 WHIP when he takes on the Guardians at home on Wednesday.

Not great. May took a 104-mph line drive off his lower right left from Tigers leadoff man Colt Keith but was able to remain in the contest. That decision led to the floodgates opening with seven hits, including a pair of homers, before he was pulled in the fourth inning at 79 pitches. He served up a two-run homer to Kerry Carpenter as part of a 33-pitch opening frame and gave up a two-run blast to Zach McKinstry in the fourth before departing. He struck out four and handed out two walks. He’ll bring a preposterously high 15.95 ERA into a home outing against the Red Sox on Friday. He’s the definition of a stay-away for fantasy purposes.

May walked one batter on the afternoon while striking out three. The Rays scratched out three runs against him in the second inning, then added three more with three RBI doubles in the fourth inning. The 28-year-old hurler got just four swings and misses on 61 pitches on the day, posting a miserable CSW of 23 percent. He’ll try to put this one behind him and get back on track when he takes on the Tigers in Detroit on Saturday.

We don’t have any Statcast data since this contest took place at Double-A Hammons Field but May turned in a strong performance in his final tune-up before opening the season in St. Louis’ rotation. The 28-year-old figures to take the ball this weekend against the Rays at Busch Stadium. His immediate fantasy appeal is strictly limited to deeper formats until he strings together a handful of quality outings.

He also struck out three and walked one while posting a 20 percent whiff rate and 20 percent CSW. You rarely see a pitcher get just seven called strikes in five full innings of work, but that’s what May did today. The right-hander threw 55 strikes on the day today, and the Nationals swung at 46 of them. Perhaps Washington was simply being aggressive, or perhaps May wasn’t really fooling hitters, which might be why Washington had eight hard-hit balls. Regardless, he maintained his fastball velocity throughout the outing, which is good news. That puts him on the fantasy radar, but until we start seeing consistent whiffs, it’s hard to get too excited.

May also walked two and struck out three while registering a 23 percent whiff rate and 25 percent CSW. The command wasn’t ideal for May, who had just a 57 percent strike rate, but he had three whiffs on his four-seamer and two whiffs on four swings against his sweeper, which was nice to see. His four-seam velocity did drop about three mph in the fourth inning, but that’s not a huge shock in spring training. It’s hard to get overly excited about May this season since he is on a rebuilding team, and he has never produced much strikeout upside.

The good news is that he averaged 94.5 mph with the sinker, a 1.6 mph bump from last year. The bad news is he only struck out one batter and managed just one whiff on 16 swings against his two main pitches. Still, as far as Grapefruit League debuts go, it’s hard to wave away the results. May could be interesting this year if he maintains this level of velocity.

The mutual option is for $20 million, and contains a $500,000 buyout. May will get a chance to pitch in the middle of the St. Louis rotation after forging a 4.98 ERA and 123/56 K/BB in his 25 appearances and 132 1/3 innings with the Dodgers and Red Sox in 2025.

Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com adds that it’s a one-year deal with a mutual option for the 2027 season, though the financial terms of the contract are not yet known. The 28-year-old hurler compiled a 4.96 ERA, 1.42 WHIP and a 123/56 K/BB ratio over 132 1/3 innings in 25 appearances between the Dodgers and Red Sox in 2025. He’ll add stability to a Cardinals’ rotation that has already dealt away ace Sonny Gray this offseason.