Trevor May Open To The Bullpen?

By Ted Schwerzler | Feb 11, 2015

By now, you have well heard that the Minnesota Twins have virtually locked down four of their five starting rotation spots. With Phil Hughes, Ervin Santana, Ricky Nolasco, and Kyle Gibson all penciled in, only one opening is left. There are plenty of suitors and last season’s rookie call up Trevor May is among them.

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The big acquisition in the trade that sent Ben Revere to the Philadelphia Phillies for both May and Vance Worley, the former made his Twins debut late during the 2014 season. Although things started off less than ideal, May showed improvement as time spent with the Twins went on.

Recently, Rhett Bolinger of MLB.com was able to catch up with Trevor May and pick his brain when it comes to the 2015 season. May is quick to point out former pitching coach, Rick Anderson, in helping to fine tune his pitching routine. He tells Bollinger, “Toward the end, I stayed taller and my stuff got better. I got more swings and misses. The runs that were scoring were more in spurts. And the walks got better, too. I started pounding the zone better than I ever have.”

Looking at the starting rotation, the competition will be fierce. May is going to be stacked up against veteran hurlers Tommy Milone and Mike Pelfrey, as long as fellow prospect Alex Meyer. To separate himself from the field, he will need to improve upon an ERA that rested north of 7.00 in 2014.

Of the competition for the 5th spot, May says, “I think the progress was enough to keep me in the conversation. But baseball is a business and some guys are on contracts. If you’re going to throw as good as them and your stats are identical, they’re going to get the job. But that’s how it is and I know that. But my job doesn’t change because of that. My job is to be in the best shape possible and compete for a spot.”

At the end of the day, there is going to be a handful of pitchers left out in the cold when it comes to the Opening Day rotation. Whether May cracks the rotation or not, his goal is to pitch with the Twins, and the bullpen may provide that avenue.

May said, “I’d have no problem with that. I did it in the Fall League and really enjoyed it. It’s a role I think I do well in. It allows me to focus on the fastball and I throw hard enough to be a back-of-the-game type guy. So I’d relish that opportunity, especially if it were the difference between being up here or in the Minors.”

At this point, Trevor May is getting ready to get things underway down in Fort Myers, and 2015 should be a big year for him. Whether he starts at the major league level or not, May will see more time with the Twins than in 2014, and he should only be expected to continue to take steps forward.

Next: Projecting The Twins 2015 Starting Rotation

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