Dustin May was signed to a one-year deal this offseason.
The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-2 on Thursday afternoon in Grapefruit League action. The Cardinals are now 7-4 on the spring for those scoring at home.
Though spring training wins are nice, the spring is really about development and getting a chance to work on/showcase things.
In that vein, Cardinals' right-hander Dustin May continues to impress, as he tossed three scoreless innings in the victory. He gave up one walk and one hit, striking out one, and he flashed supreme velocity once again.
Per Sam Fosberg of Just Baseball:
Dustin May’s average fastball was 97.8 mph today. That’s 2.4 ticks up from his average of 95.4 mph in ‘25…small sample size, but he can maintain that, STL has something.
While it's unclear if he can maintain it, it's encouraging to see May healthy, as he's had several injury problems throughout his career.
About May
A World Series winner with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020, May is now a six-year veteran of the Dodgers and Boston Red Sox. He's gone 19-20 lifetime with a 3.86 ERA, making a career-best 23 starts in 2025.
Prior to that, his career-high in starts was 10, which was back in that 2020 season. He made only five appearances in 2021, six in 2022 and nine in 2023 before missing all of 2024 with injury.
He struck out 123 batters in 132.1 innings last season, and newfound velocity should help him get more punchouts this season.
He was signed to a one-year, $12.5 million deal this offseason.
Future outlook
May will be in the Opening Day rotation and there's a chance that he could earn the Opening Day start. He figures to pair with Andre Pallante and Matthew Liberatore, with Kyle Leahy, Quinn Mathews, Richard Fitts and Hunter Dobbins all vying for rotation spots as well.
If he pitches well, there's a possibility the Cardinals could trade him at the trade deadline in order to gain more young prospects. Of course, they could try to bring him back on a more permanent deal since he's only 28 years old.
Elsewhere in the news for the Cardinals
--ESPN MLB researcher Paul Hembekides recently called Ivan Herrera perhaps the most "underrated player in ball."
--The new MLB Pipeline Top 30 prospects for each team are out. Here's where the recently-acquired prospects stack up for St. Louis.
--While propping up the Los Angeles Dodgers, sports radio icon Colin Cowherd called out the Cardinals in a rant on 'The Herd' on Tuesday, calling them "crummy." We examine where Cowherd missed the point in this here.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION:
Remember to join our CARDINALS on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other CARDINALS fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!