Dodgers: Dustin May Continues Recovery at Spring Training Complex

The 2021 season began with high hopes in Los Angeles. The Dodgers starting rotation was ranked top in the league and fans couldn't wait to see the new acquisitions and rising stars in action. But that all changed by the month of May. 

When Dustin May suffered an elbow injury early in the season, many hoped it wouldn't be too bad given how well the right-hander takes care of himself. Unfortunately, that was not the case and the hard-throwing righty had to undergo Tommy John surgery and was lost for the season.

May recently posted a video of himself throwing for the first time since his operation and then the Los Angeles Dodgers decided to share on their YouTube channel a video of May's rehabilitation and buildup at Camelback Ranch in Arizona. All of which, understandably, got fans a bit excited.

In the video, Dustin describes a typical day in his life as well as his initial feelings after being injured back in May.

Going into the moment of getting hurt, I don’t really know to react because I’ve never been in that situation before. It never really sunk in until I was going into surgery. Like, I’m gonna be out for a significant amount of time and I’m going to pretty much re-learn how to throw in six months.

Now six months later, May is tossing a baseball again and looking forward to 2022, hopeful of a mid-season return.

The first day throwing it felt something like a forbidden fruit. Like you’re not supposed to be doing this yet because I’d been told for so long ‘don’t do this, don’t do this’ so being able to do it for the first time, it felt really foreign. But after the first few throws, it was just like riding a bike.

The usual time frame for recovering from Tommy John surgery, assuming all goes well, is about 12-14 months. May mentioned 14-15 months, which tells us that the Dodgers are being smart and not rushing the talented 24-year-old back into the starting rotation before being fully recovered. So while a return in July, at the earliest, is possible, an August or even September return could be more than likely.

While the Dodgers will be without Dustin for the start of the season, having such a quality arm fresh for the second half and possible post-season run, will be a huge not-so-secret-weapon and we can't wait.