LUCAS MAY
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CATCHER
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Born: October 24, 1984 Height: 6’0″ Weight: 205 Bats: Right Throws: Right Drafted: 8th Round, 241st overall, 2003 (Dodgers) How acquired: Minor League FA High School: Parkway West HS, Ballwin, MO Agent: N/A |
WTM’S PIRATE PLAYER PROFILES |
The Dodgers originally drafted May as an infielder. He played short initially for them, then the outfield, until they shifted him to catcher in his fourth pro season. He’s shown good power throughout much of his career, but has always been held back by poor walk and K rates, resulting from struggles with offspeed and breaking stuff. He has a good arm, but otherwise is not considered good defensively behind the plate. He had slightly above-average speed earlier in his career, but seems to have slowed down.
2003 May played shortstop exclusively in his debut season in rookie ball. Aside from a good walk rate he didn’t do much offensively. 2004 The Dodgers continued playing May at short in advanced rookie ball and he also started hitting with more authority, although his plate discipline went off a cliff. 2005 May split his time between short and left, and also served as DH about a third of the time. He struggled to hit, plagued by an extremely low walk rate. 2006 The Dodgers sent May back to low A and moved him full time to the outfield, where he divided his time between all three spots. His plate discipline remained poor, but he increased his walk rate to just low instead of abysmal, and hit for good power. 2007 The Dodgers moved May behind the plate in high A. He hit for a lot of power, but his continued to suffer from a poor walk rate. His numbers also have to be discounted due to the fact that it was the hitting-happy California League. He managed to throw out 29% of base stealers, but also led the minors in passed balls despite catching only 78 games. Still, BA chose him as the Dodgers’ 17th best prospect after the season. 2008 May struggled to hit, and with the strike zone, in AA. 2009 May returned to AA and made significant progress at bat, with by far his highest walk rate since his first year. Unfortunately, he missed six weeks with a broken wrist. He threw out 35% but also continued to struggle with passed balls. 2010 The Dodgers sent May to AAA, except for a brief stint in AA, then traded him to Kansas City in a deadline deal for Scott Podsednik. May continued to hit for good power with shaky plate discipline, although his numbers in AAA with the Dodgers were probably helped by the strong hitting environment at Albuquerque. He got a September callup, his only major league stint, with the Royals. 2011 The Royals dfa’d May at the end of spring training and outrighted him to AAA. He struggled badly there, but returned to form after a June 1 trade to Arizona. He shared the catching duties at both stops. 2012 May signed with the Mets and spent the season with their AAA affiliate, where he did about half the catching. His hitting collapsed, obviously including his plate discipline. 2013 After trading Ramon Cabrera, the Pirates were short of catching at the upper levels of their system, so they signed May. He spent the season with Indianapolis, with his playing time depending on the other catchers on the roster. With Tony Sanchez there, he played sparingly the first two months. May got more playing time after that, but his hitting struggles of the previous year continued. He threw out 19% of base stealers. May’s best attribute was power, but it’s deserted him in recent years. He’ll be a free agent and the Pirates should be able to find better catching depth. |
STATS
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Baseball Reference–Majors Baseball Reference–Minors Fangraphs MLB.com MiLB.com |
CONTRACT INFORMATION
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2013: Minor league contract |
PLAYER INFORMATION
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Signing Bonus: $100,000 MiLB Debut: 2003 MLB Debut: 9/4/2010 MiLB FA Eligible: 2013 MLB FA Eligible: 2019 Rule 5 Eligible: Eligible Added to 40-Man: November 20, 2007 Options Remaining: 0 (USED: 2008, 2009, 2010) MLB Service Time: 0.039 |
TRANSACTIONS
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June 3, 2003: Drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 8th round, 241st overall pick; signed on June 6. November 20, 2007: Contract purchased by the Los Angeles Dodgers. July 28, 2010: Traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers with Elisaul Pimentel to the Kansas City Royals for Scott Podsednik. March 30, 2011: Designated for assignment by the Kansas City Royals; outrighted to AAA on April 5. June 1, 2011: Traded by the Kansas City Royals to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Andrea Pizziconi. November 2, 2011: Became a free agent. December 12, 2011: Signed as a minor league free agent with the New York Mets. November 3, 2012: Became a free agent. January 4, 2013: Signed as a minor league free agent with the Pittsburgh Pirates. |