Things Just Took a Major Turn for Dustin May

Things just took a major turn for Dustin May after another shaky outing in yesterday's loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. What does Pat Murphy do with this starting rotation in the playoffs? Is Robert Gasser the new number three or will he really truly stick with Dustin May as he was talking about? Let's talk about that on today's episode of Brewers Digest. I'm your host Taylor Brettel and I got you covered on everything you need to know about the Milwaukee Brewers. Yesterday, not the prettiest of contests, was kind of one of those rollover games where you don't expect to win it. You're facing Zach Wheeler, one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball. The Brewers aren't really lining up their toughest arms out there, but this was a game that was three to three entering the eighth. The Brewers had a chance to steal one and unfortunately couldn't get the job done, but put the Brewers in an early 2-0 hole was Dustin May in his outing. So let's break down everything we saw from that. Dustin May was that acquisition at the trade deadline for the Milwaukee Brewers. This was a guy I was absolutely thrilled about, was very solid on the Cardinals. He's been with multiple high level organizations. He's been with the Red Sox. He's been with the Dodgers. Has he had many injuries in his past? Yes, that was a concern, but the concern now is just honestly his production and if it is good enough to sustain in the playoffs for the Milwaukee Brewers. We saw yesterday, not the prettiest of outings. He was only able to go two innings. He wasn't expected to go many innings. I don't think this was really projected to be a full start, but I don't think many people projected 36 pitches and two innings of work with two runs given up in that mix. I want to really take a look at Dustin May and this outing. What I first want to pull up is his stat cast. In case you're unfamiliar with what Dustin May really has to offer. Again, getting added to the Milwaukee Brewers just a couple months back. He has a deep pitch mix. When the Brewers got him, I really loved this move. No, it wasn't the big scooble move that everyone was hoping the Brewers would do, but it wasn't a who the heck is this guy kind of a move. It was definitely in between. You knew who Dustin May was. We watched Dustin May carve up the Milwaukee Brewers when he was Cardinals. This was a move I was very excited for. Also at the time, Kyle Harrison was still performing to those Cy Young, you know, starting pitcher to right behind Jacob Mizorowski type levels. So you got a Dustin May and you're really only hoping he can be the starting pitcher four or five in this rotation, but the expectations have risen for him to possibly be the three, but his performances have not put him to be that three. He's era on the season now a 4.67. But again, talking about the pitch mix. The one thing that is tough about Dustin May is that the three most used pitches are all fast, a four seam cutter and sinker. He does have a sweeper that he mixes in there pretty evenly. It shows a six pitch mix here really does throw a strong four pitch mix with the curve and change on the side. But we saw these fast pitches. These are the ones that are able to get hit around. And the concerning part is when he's throwing the off speed, it's nowhere near the zone and guys are not chasing at all. I'll throw up what he threw yesterday in the contest against the Philadelphia Phillies. He threw five of those six possible pitches that he has in his arsenal, but 17 of them sinkers, eight of them forcing fastball, seven of them cutters. You know, the speed's coming. I know a four seamers more straight, a sinker dips a little bit, a cutter might move to the side, but it's all fast velocity. They all sit at a pretty similar range as well. Actually, I'll swing the stack cast back up here. Once more, you see the miles per hour on the pitches. I'll pull it on the big screen for you guys. You see that the four seam just a tick under 97. So he has good velocity on that, but the sinker right there as well, 96.6, then the cutter, that one is slowed down just a little bit. So a lot of the velocity is the same. It's not like one of these three hard thrown pitches has, you know, five or six miles an hour, more velocity on it. Only two of them are a couple of ticks apart. And then the third pitch only three miles an hour slower. It just seems like it's a little bit easy to sit on. And that was definitely obvious in yesterday's contest. Again, you saw that what was that 28 of his or a 32 of his 36 pitches were one of those three. And Brandon Marsh absolutely knew that. Here's an example of when Dustin May gave up the two runs. It was only two run homer. You see all the strikes here. I mean, the strikes are on the fast pitches. He tries to mix in the off speed with the curve ball. It's not even close. Don't get me wrong. It's a no two count. You want Brandon Marsh to chase. So he's obviously trying to throw that one low. But in the couple of pitches he threw for off speed, they were not even close to the zone. He's trying to only get chase on it. And all these guys know that and they're not going to swing if they see off speed coming their way, makes it easy to wait for that sinker to come back. Brandon Marsh sat on it and you see all of these pitches are low in the zone. They're all sitting in that same bottom row. Very tough scene for Dustin May. Had a pretty solid first inning in this game. But again, 36 pitches, two runs given up. Not exactly what you want to see. We take a look at his game log over the past couple of games. This is in the month of September. He has not really gone deep into many outings. Only lasted three and two thirds from playing the Cincinnati Reds. Throwing 56 pitches in that one with 41 of them finding the zone and gave up five hits and two earned runs, one of them a long ball. Then at Cincinnati again, this one is at home. Dustin May with what seemed to be the bounce back outing that he needed. Six innings pitch, only allowed two hits and then zeros everywhere else. I guess he snuck in a walk there. But 84 pitches, 56 strikes. You then go when he faced the Baltimore Orioles a couple of days ago, September 18th and back to his old funk. 70 pitches to get through two and a third innings. Gave up three earned runs. Gave up a homer. Six hits. Walked a batter. Strikeout numbers pretty low right there. I mean, four over two and a third isn't bad, but needing 70 pitches to do it is what makes it bad. And then we go to yesterday. Only two innings in this one. 36 pitches, 22 strikes. Gave up one hit and two earned runs because he struggled with the walks. Walking two batters. So he has not been able to get deep into some of these outings and it's very tough scenes for Dustin May because this is a guy that has pretty high expectations for the Brewers. This is a Brewers team that has the best record in Major League Baseball and Dustin May really needs to contribute to this team and show that he can be a reason why this team can win the World Series. I have some news on it right here. What the playoffs could look like. This is from Pack the Brew crediting Adam McAlvey for a quote that was asked. It says Dustin May will be the Brewers game three starter unless something changes. That is in quotes. This was posted pretty recently. This isn't like from a couple of weeks ago. This is how the Brewers are feeling about it. Chris Hook says, for experienced guys that have been in that moment, I throw all regular season away. That's a different moment in October. I think he'll be fine, which is definitely true. That's what I'm talking about. Dustin May has two World Series rings. He's been with the Dodgers for a couple of years. Been with the Red Sox for a couple of years. We got him from the Cardinals. Maybe he was one place in between that mix, but I know those three for sure. So that is what the reality is. But Dustin May in the post game, you know, he was kind of asked about his role, about his outing. The one thing I do like about May, he does not have any excuses. He's kind of just like, I'm going to do what they need me to do. I'm going to try to do my best. He doesn't have any excuses. He's not putting blame on anyone else. He is fully taking responsibility for it, which I know sounds like 1A, you should be doing that, but some guys don't do that. So you take a look here on May on his role. This is from Kurt Hogg. It says, next steps for Dustin May, TBD. He's not sure what's next, including role because of how he's pitched. A quote from that interview yesterday after the game. It says, I'm just going to do what I'm told at this point. I don't feel like I've pitched my way into having a say in anything. I'm just going to do what they tell me, which again, like, you know, he's struggling. So he's saying, I don't think I have a say in what I want to do because I'm not performing to be in that position. So I honestly respect that. It's kind of tough that that's the situation that he's in. We don't really want to be seeing that, but I definitely respected Dustin May in that post game press conference, kind of just, you know, fully admitting that that is the reality. But I have a question for you guys on Dustin May. What should the Brewers do when it comes postseason time? I know the Brewers still have five games left this season, but I have that question for you guys that I'll appear on the sidebar right here. How would you manage Dustin May in the postseason? Would you make him that number three starter that Chris Hook and Pat Murphy seem to want him to be? Would you maybe switch it up a little bit? Maybe he's an opener. Maybe he can get through those two innings before everything implodes. I know yesterday he got through one in two-thirds and then it imploded a little bit, but maybe he could be an opener. We saw that last year with Aaron Ashby. Maybe Dustin May could be that as a right-hander. Do you make him middle relief? Do you make him a guy that is, like, useful middle relief? Maybe a starter only is able to last four innings and you need Dustin May to get through the fifth and sixth and maybe a little bit into the seventh to set up the setup guy and at the closer in Uribe and McGill. That could very well happen. The Brewers have a lot of those guys on this roster, though, with Senza Tella, Chad Patrick, D.L. Hall. They have a lot of guys that can go two or three innings if needed, even Aaron Ashby, who I just touched on. Or does Dustin May sink down to an innings either? Like, hey, you're on the postseason roster. We're probably only going to pitch you if we're down big in a game because we want to save our arms fully for the next game to possibly get a win in the series. You guys let me know. In my opinion, I think it's tough. I mean, I think he has to be the number three starter. I think Robert Gasser has had a very good reasoning to possibly be the number three starter of his own, but I know it's a small sample size. His last five games, he's pitched really well, but we've seen struggles from earlier in the year. Again, I have to give credit to Chris Hook. He says, you know, Dustin May has the experience. He views the postseason differently. I totally understand that. I totally get it. So if that's the way they're going to go, hoping that Dustin May is able to show a little bit more than what this game log has been showing. But that's all I got for this episode of Brewers Digest. Hoping the Brewers are able to get a win tonight. Looking a little bit more likely on the mound, it'll be Aaron Nola for the Philadelphia Phillies. And for the Brewers, it'll be Logan Henderson. Definitely a more favorable matchup than what yesterday insisted of. Hoping the Brewers don't strike out what was 15 times, whatever they did yesterday. So hopefully that's out of the way as well. And it was just kind of a one game funk. But Dustin May, man, I'm rooting for you. We'll put him on the big screen once more to show it. Rooting for him to turn it around because I really did like this pickup at the trade deadline. Just things just really have not been working out as planned. But again, October is a whole different beast. And if the Brewers have a pitcher that is totally ready for that beast and to conquer him, that is all fine with me. Again, hoping the Brewers get the win tonight. Win at number 99 on the season, inch closer to triple digits. And they cannot lose that number one seed. The Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres yesterday. So the Brewers losing some ground. It's a big one tonight. Hoping Logan Henderson is able to steer the Brewers in the right direction. I'll talk to you guys tomorrow.