According to Baseball America, the Pirates have signed minor league catcher Lucas May. He has played part of one season in the majors, 2010 with the Royals. May was originally drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the eighth round of the 2003 draft. The Royals acquired him as part of the return for outfielder Scott Podsednik at the 2010 trading deadline.
The 28-year-old May spent 2012 at AAA Buffalo in the Mets organization. He hit .215 in 75 games, with a .593 OPS and a 10/74 BB/K ratio. May has hit for power in the past, but his numbers have dropped recently. In 2005, he hit 25 homers in the hitter-friendly California League with Inland Empire and he has 105 career minor league homers.
The right-handed hitting May batted .189 in 12 games for the Royals in a September call-up in 2010, striking out ten times with no walks. He will likely compete with Ali Solis for the backup AAA catching spot behind Tony Sanchez.
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
May has played lots of positions. He is not known for his defense at any of them.
Agree John. Nothing here but future bullpen catcher.
It won’t be good for the Pirates if May is in the majors this year. It will mean that at least two of Martin, McKenry and Sanchez are injured. Not sure if Ali Solis is a better fourth option than May, but following Solis all Winter in the Mexican League, he had trouble hitting and on defense. Not pretty what he did there, plus he got hurt at one point.
It is good to have two guys with major league experience at AAA for the young pitchers, so in that sense, May is good. One of them might even be at AA, so there is some value to players like them
Spring Training depth!
He will likely be invited to Major League camp for Spring Training, just because there is a huge need for catchers early in the camp