In his first pitching appearance since May 17, 2023, May tossed a scoreless first inning against the San Diego Padres in Sunday’s 8-3 win.
Dustin May was on the precipice of returning to the Dodgers when he tore his esophagus while eating a salad during a dinner in Arizona. An emergency surgery was needed for May’s survival and although he thankfully pulled through, it completely dashed any hopes of him returning to the team in 2024.
It had been 648 days since Dustin May had last faced a big league team, with his last start for the Dodgers coming on May 17, 2023 against the Minnesota Twins, where he lasted just a single inning. On Sunday, he made his return to the mound against the San Diego Padres, tossing a scoreless first inning and topping out at 95 miles per hour on his strikeout pitch of outfielder Oscar Gonzalez.
After recording the strikeout, May let out an emphatic yell as he energetically skipped off the field, looking up to the sky while collecting himself.
May spoke about returning to the mound not only after dealing with Tommy John surgery but also after experiencing a life threatening event, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register.
“It felt amazing just to be back,” he said. “A huge, huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders, it feels like. Just getting back in the dugout afterward – even if it wouldn’t have been a clean inning – just getting back in the dugout and feeling good and being here, it was really, really heavy… I’m alive. I’m glad I’m here,” he said, adding that it felt “like a new beginning.”
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Hyeseong Kim has gotten some reps at both second base and shortstop over the course of the Dodgers’ first four games this spring, and manager Dave Roberts is hoping to experiment with him manning not just the corner outfield, but center field as well, notes Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times.
“I think that we’ve got a lot of different options,” Roberts said of Kim’s defensive ability. “We know that he can play second. James [Outman] and Andy [Pages] are competing in center field, and Tommy [Edman] can play there, but there’s not a lot of downside to having another left-handed option that can play center.”
Roki Sasaki will be making his spring debut on Tuesday, but it won’t be against the Seattle Mariners. Sasaki will instead throw in what pitching coach Mark Prior called a “hybrid-B game” against the Chicago White Sox, reports Jack Magruder of MLB.com.
Blake Snell will make his spring debut against Seattle on Tuesday.