Last year was supposed to go differently for Dodgers pitcher Dustin May.
After undergoing flexor tendon and Tommy John revision surgery in the middle of 2023, the hard-throwing right-hander was on track to return before the season ended.
By early July, he was just a week away from starting a minor-league rehab assignment and only about a month away from possibly rejoining the team.
Even more encouraging was that as May was nearing the end of his recovery from his second major surgery (he had Tommy John surgery in 2021), he was finally starting to feel like his old self. He was hopeful about returning to the shorthanded starting rotation and playing a key role in the Dodgers’ push for a World Series title.
“I was pretty close,” May said. Then, everything changed in one scary night.
On July 10, while he was still rehabbing at the Dodgers’ Camelback Ranch facility in Arizona, May went out for dinner and ordered a salad. After one bite, he felt lettuce stuck in his throat. He tried to wash it down with a quick sip of water.
Moments later, he realized something was wrong.
In what May described as a “complete freak accident,” he unknowingly tore his esophagus badly, which required emergency surgery that night. This put an end to any hopes of him returning that season and gave him a new perspective on both baseball and the fragility of life.
“It was a life-altering event,” May said Friday, sharing the story publicly for the first time. “It was definitely very serious. It’s not a very common surgery. It was an emergency.”
He added, “I probably wouldn’t have made it through the night if I didn’t have it.”
For 15 minutes, May said, he felt a “mega-painful” sensation in his throat and stomach. He later learned that the lettuce lodged in his throat caused a rare food impaction that damaged his esophagus. When the pain passed, May thought he would be fine and went home from dinner.
“I’m not a big panicker,” he said. “It kind of chilled out. So I was like, ‘I’m fine. I don’t need to do anything.’” However, his wife, Millie, wasn’t convinced.
“No,” May recalled her saying. “We’re going to the ER to get it checked out.”
Dustin May works against a San Diego Padres batter during the first inning of a baseball gameWhen May arrived at the hospital, doctors did a CT scan with contrast fluid, which showed a serious tear in his esophagus. They immediately took him into surgery. Within hours, he went from being close to returning to the team to facing an unexpected setback.
“It was extremely frustrating,” May said. “You can’t plan for it. You can’t try to prevent it. It just happened.”
Shaking his head, he added, “It wasn’t on my bingo card for 2024.”
To fix the tear, May needed what he called “basically a full abdominal surgery,” showing a long vertical scar from his lower chest to his stomach.
Instead of finishing his elbow rehab, May started a new six-month recovery. He was not allowed to lift anything heavier than 10 pounds. He began light throwing in November, but it wasn’t until around New Year’s that he felt fully recovered.
“It just kind of gives me a different viewpoint on a lot of things in life,” May said, still in disbelief. “Just seeing how something so non-baseball-related can just be like — it can be gone in a second. And the stuff it put my wife through, it definitely gave me [a feeling] of, ‘Wow, stuff can change like that.’ It was definitely very scary.”
This spring, May has shifted his focus to making the Dodgers’ opening-day roster and getting his career back on track.
When healthy, the third-round draft pick has been excellent for the Dodgers, with a 3.10 earned-run average and 174 strikeouts in 46 games (34 starts) since making his debut in 2019. He’s hopeful of returning to that form and is encouraged by his early bullpen sessions as he competes for the final spot in the starting rotation with Tony Gonsolin, Landon Knack, Bobby Miller, and others in camp.
“If I’m healthy, I feel like I have a spot on this rotation,” said May, who manager Dave Roberts said could also be an option for the bullpen. “I just have to go out and prove that.”
If May can prove himself, it will be a full-circle moment for the 27-year-old, bringing a rewarding end to the medical struggles that kept him from returning last year.
“It’s been a minute,” May said of finally being healthy again. “But I’m definitely excited, and definitely have a deeper appreciation for the game.”
