Dodgers’ Dustin May shows off next steps of recovery in latest video

Slowly but surely, Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Dustin May is making his way back from a poorly-timed Tommy John surgery (is there ever a non-poor time?) that derailed his 2021 season, and dinged LA’s chances of a repeat bid.

May will be available to the Dodgers — pending setbacks — at some point in the second half of 2022; his procedure took place on May 12, and the typical recovery period these days is 12-15 months.

LA has enough pitching depth that they can slow-play May’s return, and can even absorb some poor midsummer starts as he works to get his command and location back.

What they can’t do, as currently constructed, is survive without the righty humming at full strength by September, either as a rotation centerpiece or bullpen weapon.

Though all players remain locked out and unable to visit or converse with team doctors, May chose to take to social media to give us an update on his recovery straight from the source. Little by little, he’s turning himself into an option.

Dodgers ace-in-training Dustin May updated us on his Tommy John rehab.

It’s hard to glean much from May’s content, but if he’s captioning it “slow and steady” himself instead of flexing/stunting/pretending to brag about how he’s throwing a hundy, then it’s pretty clear he’s not trying to sim to the end of his recovery process.

Again, another cautionary reminder not to bank on May to provide too much to the 2022 Dodgers.

Though he’s up and moving, and though we have plenty of recent data, nobody’s recovery is linear. May’s arm may not follow the same path as, say, Chris Sale’s, who ended up looking off-kilter one start before firing six shutout in the next during Boston’s 2021 postseason run.

The most important thing is getting May to a place where, more often than not, he’s a high-impact option by Sept. and Oct.

It might be out of the bullpen like Luis Severino, and we understand that. But May needs to be available for this team to approach its ceiling, especially with a thinned-out back end of the bullpen and rotation at the moment.

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