Minnesota Twins Opening Day Countdown, 65, Trevor May

The Minnesota Twins are just 65 days away from opening day in Baltimore. As we near that day, we will tap into Twins history related to each number as we get closer!

The Minnesota Twins are preparing for a 2018 season with expectations after making the playoffs in 2017 as a Wild Card. We will have bring out numbers from team history that represent the number of days until opening day on March 29th in Baltimore.

The current Minnesota Twins roster has a number of young players looking to establish themselves. One of them in 2018 will be returning from surgery to a bullpen that could use his power arm. Wearing jersey #65, we’ll look at Trevor May.

May’s prospect rise

May was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies out of Washington high school in the 4th round of the 2008 draft. After a quick show in the GCL his draft year, he was assigned to full-season Lakeland in his first pro season after some time in extended spring, where he mad 15 starts, throwing 77 1/3 innings, posting a 2.56 ERA and striking out 95.

May was quite impressive in a return to the South Atlantic League before running into struggles with the Phillies high-A affiliate in Clearwater in 2010. He posted a 4.00 ERA overall in 135 innings, continuing to post impressive strikeout numbers, with 182 strikeouts.

May returned to high-A for the full season in 2011, and he showed well, especially in the strikeout department, posting a 3.63 ERA over 151 1/3 innings, striking out 208. He was ranked as a consensus top-100 prospect in baseball after the 2011 season, as high as #51 by Baseball Prospectus.

In spite of a frustrating season in AA Reading for May, the Twins made May a focus of a trade with the Phillies in the 2012 offseson, sending Ben Revere to Philadelphia for May and righty Vance Worley.

May had a solid season in AA in 2013 with the Twins AA club in New Britain and showed very well in the Arizona Fall League. He would throw very well with Rochester and earn his way to the big leagues in 2014.

After a season as a swing man in 2015 where he put up very solid numbers in the role, May was moved exclusively to the bullpen, but he did not last the full season healthy.

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May missed all of the 2017 season due to Tommy John surgery that may threaten his opening the season with the club, but he should work his way to the big league team quickly in the 2018 season.

In his major league time, May has shown a power combination, throwing a four-seam fastball averaging 95 MPH, a hard curve in the upper 70s, and a slider in the mid-80s.

Trevor’s four-seam fastball, curve, and change each get pop ups, though not typically hit with good launch angle, leading to plenty of pop ups to the outfield, something the Twins elite young outfield should swallow up. He use both a combined 9-10%, but his sinker and slider generate a ton of ground balls, so he has a weapon to get a grounder when he needs to.

It will be exciting to see how Trevor returns to the bullpen, and with the offseason veteran additions along with the talented youth that showed through at the end of 2017, the Minnesota Twins have the making of an elite and deep bullpen!

Next: Twins need to avoid becoming Pirates

As we click to opening day, we remember at #65 a Twins pitcher who is just getting his feet wet, and as this article is getting ready, Trevor himself announces this great news:

We look forward to that first day of the season against Baltimore!