If you were watching the Los Angeles Dodgers over the last few years, you probably felt like you were witnessing a glitch in the Matrix every time Dustin May stepped on the mound. That red hair, the lanky 6-foot-6 frame, and a sinker that looked like it was being controlled by a joystick. It was unfair. But then, the highlight reels stopped. The flamethrower went quiet.
Honestly, the story of what happened to Dustin May is one of the weirdest, most frustrating "what-if" sagas in modern baseball. It wasn’t just the standard pitcher tragedy of a blown-out elbow. It was something way more bizarre.
The Freak Accident That Almost Cost Him Everything
By the summer of 2024, May was already a veteran of the operating room. He’d survived Tommy John surgery in 2021 and a flexor tendon repair in 2023. He was actually on the verge of a rehab assignment—literally days away from pitching in live games—when he sat down for dinner.
He took a bite of a salad.
It sounds like a bad joke, but a piece of lettuce caught in his throat. The resulting "food impaction" caused so much pressure that it actually perforated his esophagus. This wasn't just a "choking" scare. It was a life-threatening medical emergency. May later admitted that if his wife, Millie, hadn't forced him to go to the ER that night, he probably wouldn't have survived until morning.
The surgery to fix it was brutal. We’re talking a full-blown abdominal procedure that left a vertical scar running from his lower chest all the way to his stomach. For six months, the guy who used to hurl 100-mph fastballs wasn't allowed to lift more than 10 pounds.
The 2025 Reality Check
May finally made it back for the 2025 season, but it wasn't the fairy tale everyone wanted. He started the year with the Dodgers, but the "stuff" wasn't quite the same. His sinker, which used to sit at 97-99 mph, was suddenly hovering around 94-95. That might sound fast to a normal person, but in the big leagues, that’s the difference between a popup and a 450-foot home run.
The Dodgers eventually traded him to the Boston Red Sox at the 2024-25 deadline. He struggled in Boston, posting a 5.40 ERA over a handful of starts before his season ended early yet again—this time with right elbow neuritis.
Where is Dustin May Now?
If you’ve lost track of him in the shuffle of the 2025-2026 offseason, you aren't alone. As of January 2026, Dustin May is officially a member of the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Cardinals took a massive gamble on him in December 2025, signing him to a one-year, $12.5 million deal. It's basically a "prove it" contract. St. Louis is betting that another year removed from that traumatic esophageal surgery will allow him to put his weight back on and regain the "snap" in his arm. He finished 2025 with a career-high 132.1 innings, which is actually a huge silver lining, even if the 4.96 ERA was ugly.
The Numbers and the Outlook
- Fastball Velocity: It dropped into the 59th percentile last year. He’s spent this winter trying to bulk up to 225 pounds to find that lost power.
- The Contract: $12.5 million for 2026, with a $20 million mutual option for 2027.
- The Role: He’s expected to be a middle-of-the-rotation stabilizer for the Cards, assuming the elbow neuritis is actually behind him.
Basically, May is at a crossroads. He's 28 years old—still young enough to have a second prime, but old enough that the "injury prone" label is written in permanent marker.
The "Big Red" we saw in 2020 might be gone forever, replaced by a pitcher who has to rely more on his sweeping slider and cutter rather than pure, unadulterated heat. But after almost dying over a bowl of greens in Arizona, just being on a major league mound in a Cardinals jersey is a win.
If you’re tracking his progress for a fantasy draft or just out of curiosity, keep a close eye on his Spring Training velocity in February. If he’s sitting 96+ again, the Cardinals might have the steal of the year. If he's still at 93, he might be transitioning into a different kind of pitcher entirely.
🔗 Read more: Duke vs Pitt Basketball: Why This Rivalry Still Matters in the ACC
To stay ahead of his 2026 performance, you should monitor the St. Louis beat writers for updates on his weight-gain progress and whether he’s able to maintain his release point without the recurring elbow discomfort that ended his 2025 campaign.