This A's signing seems like destiny

This story was excerpted from Martín Gallegos' A's Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

OAKLAND -- The way that Trevor May described his connection with the Bay Area during his introductory Zoom call with local media on Monday, it almost seemed as if his signing with the A’s this offseason was destiny.

Though he grew up in the Pacific Northwest, May holds an attachment to Oakland and the surrounding area. He developed an affinity for Bay Area rap music as a teenager in the early 2000s. He considered Stanford University his dream school to attend before getting selected by the Phillies out of high school in the 2008 MLB Draft. His father is also a longtime A’s fan who grew up watching the Swingin’ A’s dynasty of the early 1970s.

The Bay Area tie only deepened once May was called up to the big leagues by the Twins and debuted at the Oakland Coliseum. He can vividly recall that special night on Aug. 9, 2014. From squaring off opposite Jeff Samardzija to the first pitch that he threw -- a fastball that Coco Crisp popped up into the Coliseum’s spacious foul territory and that Trevor Plouffe caught after nearly falling over the home bullpen mound. So now that he’ll be donning the green and gold and calling the Coliseum his home ballpark, the 33-year-old reliever is, in a way, coming full-circle.

“I walked seven in two innings, so it wasn’t great,” May said. “But I have this soft spot. That’s the first stadium where I ran out onto the field. I was a rookie and Torii Hunter told me to go out and just look around. Take it in. Good, bad or indifferent, you always remember that moment. My first experience is the Oakland Coliseum. I have a special place in my heart for it. I’ll never forget it.”

Here’s what else May had to say:

On the rebuilding state of the A’s

“Where the team is at in rebuilding mode with a lot of young guys, there’s so much opportunity and potential here for those guys to take a step forward. I’ve been on two 100-win teams and one 100-loss team in my career. I know what it’s like to be in all those situations and how quickly things can change and what a group of hungry young guys all trying to make a name for themselves in the league can do. That’s really exciting. That’s something I want to be a part of. … There’s something about the improvement aspect and process of getting to a competitive team and doing it with the tools that you have in front of you that is just really fun. I like having fun playing, and there’s so many dudes over there that I think are going to be really, really great players. I wanted to help in any way I can, and obviously my performance being the forefront of those.”

On his role

“I take pride in being able to throw multiple days in a row. I take pride in throwing in high leverage. I take pride in closing games out. Being a fireman. Those are the things that get me up in the morning. The season will be my oyster and if they want me to do something specific, I would love to have those conversations and help in any way I can. That’s the biggest thing I’m taking into this season is trying to be as open to change and creating a value for the Oakland A’s in any way possible. Even if that’s not even necessarily performance at all times and just helping other guys figure some stuff out. I’m open to doing those things.”

On how a stress reaction in his arm impacted his down year in 2022

“The injury was a major issue. I think it was there from Opening Day. Stress reactions are weird because they literally happen over time. It’s not a single event. It just slowly deteriorates to where you can’t be effective. As a reliever, you’re always checking how your arm feels every day. It just kind of got worse than that. Nobody wants to go on the injured list, so I tried to tough through stuff that I probably shouldn’t have for two or three outings, which really hurt my overall statistics. … I think I made some meaningful changes in terms of pitching as well in the second half. I changed the grip of the changeup. I started to think about my slider a little bit differently and tried to turn it into more of a power slider as opposed to like a harder curveball, which is what it was turning into. There were some big greenlight stuff there, really exciting things. Changeup became a swing-and-miss pitch. Slider became more effective for getting ahead of guys and using it in different situations. The fastball ride came back. I threw a splitter earlier in the year. … I think I found a changeup grip that’s in between that allows me to not change my arm path. Once I got back there, all the stuff started to escalate and get better. It was trending back towards not only normal, but better than normal. That’s very exciting for me to take into the season.”

On taking on a leadership role within a young A’s bullpen

“Having a veteran in your bullpen is very important because that’s the most fluid group of guys, usually. I think I have a wealth of knowledge in that area. … In terms of a dynamic of a successful bullpen, established roles isn’t the way that it’s done anymore. I would love to help build a culture of, once you start to see yourself being put in the same situation, really embracing preparing for that role with a goal of handing the ball off to the next guy and just building off each other’s performance. We’re the first layer of defense for establishing that the game is over. … That’s what’s so exciting about the other seven guys in the bullpen having about the same amount of [Major League] service time combined as I do. There’s so many great arms there and and guys that have potential to be forces in this league for years to come. If I can help anybody get to that point, I’ll consider it a mission accomplished.”