http://i.imgur.com/u6zu9aq.jpg

After his best start in the majors earlier this week, May struggled this trip through the rotation. He gave up 8 hits, 2 walks and 7ER through 4.2. As the numbers show, he struggled with his command just scratching over 60% strikes thrown. Swinging strike rates were nothing to write home about, but not bad, particularly on his change up.

This is where it gets interesting. Over Trevor May's first 6 starts, his 4 seam fastball velocity averaged 91.7mph, which seemed lower than what I had expected from him. He was occassionally hitting 94, but most of his pitches were sitting between 92 and 90. Then come's his start on the 14th. His 4 seam average 93 mph that day, and he was regularly hitting 95, with the bulk of his pitches sitting at 94 and 93.

Why is this important? Because in his first 6 outings, May's 4 seam command was not good, sitting at 66% strikes thrown. Against Chicago you might ask? 84% of his 4 seam fastballs were thrown for strikes. Now it's true that Chicago is a free swinging team, so that undoubtedly helped, but in that start, he had a better called strike rate than any other game he's started (33%).

Jump ahead to May's next start back this weekend back at Target Field, and his velocity dipped to 91.5 mph on the four seam, and his control of it was back down to 71%.

It's not that far of a stretch to believe that May is feeling the pressure of trying to make his mark in the bigs. He's commented several times on the support he's had from fans through Twitter and their excitement and anticipation for his major league arrival. Knowing the Twins organization is desperate for positives and with so many people looking to him to be one of the catalysts for this rotation, it's not hard to see a scenario where he's just gripping the ball too hard and it's affecting his velocity and control. This is all very much conjecture, but any introduction to pitching is going to teach you that over-gripping most pitches is going to result in a loss of velocity and control.

One quick administrative note. My pattern of not writing up on pitchers I don't think aren't a long term part of the rotation (Darnell, Pino, etc.) will continue with Sunday's starter Anthony Swarzak. There will be no write up on Sunday's game.