A Revamped Approach Has Made All The Difference For Trevor May

During the first half of the season, Trevor May was one of the more reliable options coming out of the Twins bullpen. At the All-Star Break, May had posted a 3.06 ERA, and was holding opposing hitters to a .596 OPS. Once play started in the second half, it quickly fell apart for Trevor May. It started with him giving up a costly, go-ahead home run, to Carlos Santana, late in the game against the Cleveland Indians. He followed that up, his next time out, by giving up a three-run home run to Dominic Smith, when the Twins were holding a 3 to 2 lead in the seventh inning. In both instances, the opposing hitter took Trevor May deep on a braking ball that he failed to get down and out of the zone. In his next outing after that, Trevor May failed to protect a 5 to 3 Twins lead late in the game, against the Oakland Athletics, and just like that all the good work he had done all season, was seemingly erased.

Over the two weeks, following those performances, Trevor May made just two appearances, as it appeared that the Twins were giving Trevor May some time to get himself right. That plan has paid off big time for the Twins. Since that mini-break, Trevor May has morphed himself into a whole new pitcher. In the month of August, Trevor May allowed just one run, and had a 19 to 3 strikeout to walk ratio across 13 and 1/3 innings pitched. As a result, hitters had a staggeringly low .363 OPS against Trevor May, over that time.

So, what has made all of the difference for Trevor May? While many people have pointed out that he seems to be throwing his fastball harder of late, that really isn’t the case. In the month of August, his average four-seam fastball velocity was 96.0 MPH on the nose, which is actually slightly down from the 96.5 MPH he was averaging in July. The real difference with Trevor May hasn’t been the velocity of his fastball, but rather, the frequency of use of his fastball. From April through June, Trevor May threw his fastball 61 percent of the time. In July, that frequency dipped, down to just 54 percent of the time, as Trevor May was focusing more on the use of his slider. However, since the beginning of August, Trevor May has all but scratched that mindset, and is now rearing back and challenging opposing hitters with his fastball at a 71 percent clip.

When you consider Trevor May is as a pitcher, this bulldog style approach makes a lot of sense for him. Among the 160 pitchers who have thrown at least, 500 four-seam fastball this season, on Giovanny Gallego has a better wOBA allowed on his four-seamer than Trevor May’s 0.228. That just shows how effective of a weapon Trevor May’s four-seam fastball really is.

If Trevor May can continue to have this much success against opposing hitters, he will make a great addition to Taylor Rogers, Sergio Romo, Sam Dyson and Tyler Duffey as established and reliable relievers down the stretch and into the Postseason. Not only will this give Rocco Baldelli plenty of options to get outs, but it will take some of the pressure off the starting rotation to go deep into games.