When Trevor May induced an inning-ending double play to end the eighth inning Monday, he looked up at the scoreboard. He saw his fastball hit 99 miles per hour — but he saw something else.
The Twins pitcher said guys who throw four-seam fastballs tend to have a "plus-1" on the board compared to those who throw two-seam fastballs. The effect means a 99 mph fastball might just be 100 on TV — the "TV hundge," he called it. That's what May will go with … though baseballsavant.com recorded it as a 99.8 mph heater.
"I have a clip from the TV with 1-0-0," May said. "I'm going to take that to the bank. I can't wait to get my plaque."
According to Ian Kraft of the Twins, only five other pitchers have hit 99 mph for Minnesota since 2008, where the data was first recorded. Juan Morillo hit 101 mph in one of his three — total — Twins appearances in 2009. The others to hit 99 were Ryan Pressly, J.T. Chargois, Glen Perkins and J.R. Graham.
The victory May picked up Monday night against the Braves was exactly what he needed, the righthander said. He's been struggling of late, his ERA rising in the latter half of June as he picked up losses.
"I'm not going to lie and say things have been phenomenal for me lately," May said. "There's a lot of things we're working on. Just what things I can do better to get our defense off the field."
The rough stretch came at a poor time as fans grew restless, so watching May set down hitters with his fastball was a welcome sight to Monday's starter, Jake Odorizzi.
"We've had some conversations of, 'Sometimes, it's just how it goes,' " Odorizzi said. "Stuff is not the problem. It's execution of the stuff, just like anybody else."
May, 29, tinkered with his mechanics and the analytics in regards of where to improve. With so much data at hand, there are different applications in how and why to use it.
Recently, May said he's focused on his hips as far as specific improvements. For a pitcher whose arm is already fast, mixing more hip movement to his delivery adds a little more life to the fastball, as seen on Monday.
"If you can give me data on something I'm doing — some pitches are moving some way or people are reacting to some pitch in some way — it's just going to redouble my faith in the process," May said. "That's just how I'm wired; I tend to gravitate toward that stuff."
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli has kept his bullpen roles fluid all year, though closer Taylor Rogers has taken the bulk of save situations. The new bullpen arms — Sergio Romo and Sam Dyson — figure to be used in late, high-leverage situations.
May should still be right there in the mix, though, especially with his versatility as a key component.
"He's excited because he's throwing the ball great," Baldelli said. "He's executing the pitches he wants to make. That's got to be a great feeling, going out there in a spot like that and doing two consecutive innings."
