Game #50 Preview: Blue Jays @ Twins

The Blue Jays visit Minnesota for their yearly trip to the beautiful city that's as close to Canada as you can find south of the border. The Twins haven't been all that great as individuals this season but as a team they've had enough good fortune to sit at 28-18 currently. The team also happens to have some starters outperforming their FIP's by a ton and some starters underperforming their FIP's by a fair bit as well. Kyle Gibson and Mike Pelfrey are due for some regression if their peripherals hold true, while Trevor May and Ricky Nolasco have pitched much better than their approximately 5.00 ERA's show. Perhaps unlucky for the Jays is that they have to face both pitchers due for some better performances if their peripherals are any indication, while they will also see Gibson on Saturday.

Tonight's starter for the Twinkies is Trevor May, who will oppose Mark Buehrle on the Target Field mound. May had never been fantastic at any level of the minor leagues despite strong strikeout numbers because he also had some bad control issues. Drafted in the fourth round of the 2008 draft by the Phillies, May was traded to the Twins before the 2013 season in the Ben Revere deal. The righty decided to whip out the first sub-2.00 BB/9 of his career this year in his first full season in the major leagues. Sitting at a 4.2% BB-rate and a strikeout rate that's still quite strong (19.1%), May has had a solid season so far although a BABIP of .348 has dampened what should be a stronger ERA.

His repertoire is pretty vanilla with the four main pitches plus a strong sinker, with his hard pitches sitting in the 93 mph area. He gets a lot of strikes with his off-speed stuff, with the curveball and slider performing strongly against right-handed hitters while his changeup does the heavy lifting against lefties. His four-seam fastball has let him down a bit this season but it's been picked up by all of the breaking pitches he's been able to locate effectively. At face value it appears that May's future could go either way as his newfound control could be a mirage that eventually returns to the problem that it used to be in the minors, or the BABIP could come down and he could remain being an extremely solid pitcher in the Twins rotation with three strong off-speed pitches. Only time will tell.

Hopeful Lineup

In his small time at the major league level, May has the usual splits with lefties hitting him better.

1. Jose Reyes SS
2. Josh Donaldson 3B
3. Edwin Encarnacion 1B
4. Jose Bautista DH
5. Russell Martin C
6. Chris Colabello LF
7. Kevin Pillar CF
8. Ezequiel Carrera RF
9. Ryan Goins SS

Bullpen Usage

Find The Link

Find the link between Trevor May and this character.

This should be a fun series in Minnesota to see if the Twins are as good as their record says.