TODAY: May’s placement is official, with the “right arm injury” designation. Left-hander Mike Kickham’s contract was selected from the alternate training site in a corresponding move. To create a 40-man roster spot for Kickham, the Dodgers moved right-hander Corey Knebel to the 60-day IL.
Kickham signed a minor league deal with L.A. in January, after a 2020 season that saw him toss 14 innings for the Red Sox. It was Kickham’s first MLB action since pitching with the Giants in 2014, as he had toiled away in the minors looking for another opportunity.
MAY 1, 11:28PM: The Dodgers will place May on the 10-day injured list on Sunday, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including The Orange County Register’s Bill Plunkett). In terms of a longer-term prognosis, Roberts said “we remain hopeful but we won’t know until we get an MRI,” adding that May will get that MRI when the Dodgers arrive in Chicago on Monday for the beginning of a series with the Cubs. According to the manager, May felt “a shooting sensation” in his arm.
8:34PM: The Dodgers released a very general first report on May, saying that he only left the game with a “right arm injury.”
7:05PM: Dodgers right-hander Dustin May made an early exit from his start against the Brewers tonight due to an apparent injury. After throwing a pitch to Billy McKinney with two out in the bottom of the second inning, May visibly winced in discomfort, and left the game after a visit from the team trainer.
More will be known when the Dodgers release an update on May’s condition, but obviously any sort of an injury that requires an injured-list placement isn’t good news for either May or the Dodgers rotation as a whole. Though Los Angeles still has one of the league’s best rotations, the club has been hit hard by pitching injuries, with seven hurlers currently on the IL. That list of names includes David Price and Tony Gonsolin, who were competing with May for a rotation spot during Spring Training.
May won that battle and has been impressive in the early going, posting a 2.53 ERA, 57.4% grounder rate, and one of the league’s best strikeout rates (37.2%) over 21 1/3 innings heading into tonight’s start against Milwaukee. A heralded pitching prospect on his way up the Dodgers’ minor league ladder, May posted a 2.98 ERA over 90 2/3 innings in 2019-20, and finished fifth in NL Rookie Of The Year voting in 2020. As usual with their pitchers, the Dodgers have been pretty flexible with May’s usage, deploying him mostly as a starter in 2020 but moving him to the bullpen and giving him opener-style “starts” during the team’s postseason run.