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Lucas May is in his second stint in the Arizona Fall League, and he knows the Dodgers are keeping a watchful eye on his progress behind the plate.
"The thing that Joe Torre wants is good, solid, consistent catching, so that's my main focus right now," said May. "I know what I have to do, I don't need anyone teaching me everyday. I know what I'm doing and when I do something wrong."
May did pretty much everything right Monday, finishing 3-for-4 with a go-ahead two-run homer and an RBI double as the Peoria Javelinas overcame the Scottsdale Scorpions, 6-4.
"It was a good comeback for us. We were down two, tied it up and we were able to put a few runs on the board late," said May, who raised his AFL average to .297. "That's what we've been doing, we always have confidence coming into the ninth."
May, a 25-year-old converted catcher from Las Vegas, has seen time behind the plate the past three years in the Dodgers system. He had a solid season offensively in 2009 with Double-A Chattanooga, batting .306 with six homers and 32 RBIs in 68 games, a year after struggling against Double-A pitching for a .230 average.
"I've been working on staying through the ball, seeing pitches on the outer part of the plate," May said.
The Dodgers' eighth-round pick in 2003 smacked his second homer of the fall with one out in the seventh off Craig Baker (Rockies), a two-run drive to right-center field that gave Peoria the lead and sparked the decisive four-run rally.
"He threw me a sinker down and in, and I took a short path to it. ... [I] luckily got enough to hit it out," he said. "I wasn't trying to hit a home run though, I just wanted to put a good at good swing on it."
May put the Javelinas on the board in the fifth by smacking an RBI double off Edgar Garcia (Phillies) with two outs.
"They just brought in a new pitcher, so I wanted to see what he had," said May. "I took a few pitches and looked for a fastball, something I could drive. I let it fly, put a short swing on it."
Peoria tied the game an inning later when Tigers outfielder Casper Wells doubled home Jordan Danks (White Sox). Danks added an RBI double of his own in the seventh before Russ Mitchell (Dodgers) plated him with a single to center.
May said many of the players have gathered this season to relax and watch the Major League playoffs after games. May's Dodgers were knocked out in the National League Championship Series, but he's still following the action in November.
"It's a lot of fun. We have a really loose clubhouse, so it's been a fun fall league season," he said. "We're lucky we get the early game, so it's fun to watch the World Series -- obviously, it's where we all want to be one day. We watch pretty much every game that we can."
Personally, May came to Arizona with a better feel for the season, his second AFL campaign.
"I'm a little more comfortable, I know what to expect," he said. "I've been working on a couple things, some things that I was weak at last year."
May, a Southern League All-Star in 2008 and '09, worked with the Dodgers' catching coordinators in the Instructional League last month.
"We talked after pretty much every game," he said. "I definitely want to iron out my catching. This is my third year catching, so first and foremost, I want to carry the positives of the regular season into the fall league."
Mariners lefty Nick Hill started for first-place Peoria (12-6) and allowed two runs on five hits over three innings. Hill, a second lieutenant in the Army out of the United States Military Academy at West Point, spent the 2009 season with Double-A West Tenn as part of the Army's alternative service options for athletes.
Eric Krebs (Dodgers) worked a scoreless sixth to earn the win. Giants catcher Buster Posey slugged a two-run homer in the second inning, his second of the fall league season, for Scottsdale (7-10).
Baker was charged with four runs -- one earned -- on three hits in the seventh to suffer his first loss. |
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