Turning Trevor May Into Andrew Miller

Holy crap this is gonna be a real challenge for Trevor May. Trying to become a lefty now? Can this club ask for more out of him than that?>

This ^^^^^

The comparison starts and ends at the fact they both became full time relievers at age 27. All May needs to do is start throwing left handed, develop the nastiest slider in the game, show elite control, and bump is K rate. Seems pretty unlikely....

Hopefully he gets an actual shot at the rotation this year.

I like the idea.  We fantasize over May as a starter, but in fact his record there is not sterling.  We love  him as a reliever, but he has a sequence of blow ups that make us shake our heads.  I think the team needs to take some of the blame.  Tell him what he is going to be and stick with it.  If it is the new two inning reliever then stick with that plan.   

I read that Ryan Pressly's slider has a spin rate that is the 2nd best spin rate of any slider in baseball, to Andrew Miller. He certainly didn't throw it as often as Miller did. If he throws his slider more, he should be more difficult to hit.

And hopefully May is given every chance to turn into a #3 starter.

The Twins are going to try and use him as a starter in 2017.  What more needs to be said?  He is not the next Andrew Miller.

Pitching out of the pen also seemed to be the cause of his increased injury rate. The Twins need starters badly; try him there first.

I think the concept is great. Surprised it took so long.

I also am concerned with the back issues May has.  For that reason, I believe he has to be a starter and only if that fails should he be moved back to the pen.

Love for him to be the Closer and have Perkins be the Lefty specialist.... 

Pitching out of the pen also seemed to be the cause of his increased injury rate. The Twins need starters badly; try him there first.

May has consistently said he struggles with the prep of being a reliever and has experienced multiple injuries since the move.

 

For the love of god let the kid try and be a starter.  I can't believe we're sitting here debating this when the only reason he got moved out of the rotation was the team deferring to Mike freaking Pelfrey.

 

Using him out of the bullpen has led to injuries, ineffectiveness, and stripped us of a desperately needed, competent starter.  We already fixed the Plouffe mistake a year late, let's fix the May one too.

I'll add to this small chorus:

http://www.twincities.com/2016/08/10/back-woes-have-minnesota-twins-trevor-may-wondering-whats-next/

"Among the things they discussed was how May has been able to keep his back in line with extra recovery time between outings. This spring, for instance, May’s back was no issue as he built up his pitch count in an abortive attempt at winning the final spot in the starting rotation. "

IMHO:  May's back issues have been around for a while.  Starting Rotation is the only roll he can play on a consistent basis.  And even then, he may have to skip a start. 

What I think we just don't know for sure is whether the back issues were directly caused by his being in the pen. He was effective there in 2015. But he was also showing signs of turning in to a solid SP that year before the bullpen move.

For a team so much in need for starters, and so many interesting bullpen arms close to contributing, how can you not let May do what he has always done before and start?

He was a quality SP in the minors, which us why he was acquired in the first place. His BB went down in '15 and a partial season in the rotation isn't enough to make any final judgments.

At his demotion, he led the starters in WAR... and that was after starting poorly said season. He can certainly profile to be something more than a back end starter.  Whether he makes it there, who knows, but you have to give him time to prove he can.

This.   He had an excellent minor league season in 2014 as a starter and conquered his control issues that he had in the past.    You can write off his major league debut to nerves.    As noted above he got off to a slow start in 2015 but then had 6 quality starts in his last 9 before being moved to the pen.   He was arguably the best Twins starter at the time.  His command, his variety of stuff and his health all scream rotation.    I know it is cherry picking but his stats as a starter are skewed by his bad showing in 2014 and a slow start in 2015.   He went from a 5.4 ERA in May to a 4.3 ERA at the end of June.   IMO, he had settled in nicely and while I understood why they did it at the time I didn't like it.   Still don't.   We have other arms coming up that profile for the pen better anyway.

I'll add to this small chorus:

 

http://www.twincities.com/2016/08/10/back-woes-have-minnesota-twins-trevor-may-wondering-whats-next/

 

"Among the things they discussed was how May has been able to keep his back in line with extra recovery time between outings. This spring, for instance, May’s back was no issue as he built up his pitch count in an abortive attempt at winning the final spot in the starting rotation. "

 

IMHO:  May's back issues have been around for a while.  Starting Rotation is the only roll he can play on a consistent basis.  And even then, he may have to skip a start. 

Except they've hopefully given a correct diagnosis this time after essentially not treating his injury until August or September last year. In other words, it might not have been BP duty, it may have just been that he was never healed in the first place.

I'll believe the multiple innings theory when I see it in practice. I think it's more of a postseason strategy and playoff run than something teams will do April-July.

This.   He had an excellent minor league season in 2014 as a starter and conquered his control issues that he had in the past.    You can write off his major league debut to nerves.    As noted above he got off to a slow start in 2015 but then had 6 quality starts in his last 9 before being moved to the pen.   He was arguably the best Twins starter at the time.  His command, his variety of stuff and his health all scream rotation.    I know it is cherry picking but his stats as a starter are skewed by his bad showing in 2014 and a slow start in 2015.   He went from a 5.4 ERA in May to a 4.3 ERA at the end of June.   IMO, he had settled in nicely and while I understood why they did it at the time I didn't like it.   Still don't.   We have other arms coming up that profile for the pen better anyway.

Exactly.  Couldn't agree more.  This is why swapping Duffey and May makes sense.  For all intensive purposes Tyler is a two pitch pitcher (fastball and curve).  Once he goes through the order initially he really struggles getting guys out.  Pitch tracker illustrates it quite well.  He has two VERY distinct Zones in which he he throws.  Its basically the curve or the fastball zones.  Easy to predict for a hitter with a decent eye. 

While 2015 was a good debut for him, opposing teams & hitters caught on to his repertoire fairly quickly and realized that the down and away curve is his out pitch and the middle to inside 4 seam and 2 seam fastballs are very hittable.  

He does occasionally throw a change up but only like 2% of his totals.  Until he develops the changeup and throws it without tipping off hitters he's a reliever in my opinion.  

Now that stubborn Terry is gone, why not swap May and Tyler to start 2017.  If May can't handle it after an extended shot at the rotation (say mid season) then you can always go back to Tyler or Mejia.  Hopefully Gonsalves will be available later in the season as well.  This all assuming that Derek Falvey and Thad Levine makes no acquisitions.  

Exactly.  Couldn't agree more.  This is why swapping Duffey and May makes sense.  For all intensive purposes Tyler is a two pitch pitcher (fastball and curve).  Once he goes through the order initially he really struggles getting guys out.  Pitch tracker illustrates it quite well.  He has two VERY distinct Zones in which he he throws.  Its basically the curve or the fastball zones.  Easy to predict for a hitter with a decent eye. 

 

While 2015 was a good debut for him, opposing teams & hitters caught on to his repertoire fairly quickly and realized that the down and away curve is his out pitch and the middle to inside 4 seam and 2 seam fastballs are very hittable.  

 

He does occasionally throw a change up but only like 2% of his totals.  Until he develops the changeup and throws it without tipping off hitters he's a reliever in my opinion.  

 

Now that stubborn Terry is gone, why not swap May and Tyler to start 2017.  If May can't handle it after an extended shot at the rotation (say mid season) then you can always go back to Tyler or Mejia.  Hopefully Gonsalves will be available later in the season as well.  This all assuming that Derek Falvey and Thad Levine makes no acquisitions.  

Note: As i mentioned before Duffey rarely throws the Changeup.

To be fair, I don't think Duffy had anywhere near the command of his fastball as he did the prior year and his curve ball did not have the same bite to it.     i agree that switching places with May makes a lot of sense.  I would be ok with Berrios, May, Santana, Santiago, Gibson.  If  Berrios is the real deal this feels like at least as good a rotation as the 2009 and 2010 division winning Twins.