Pitcher Trevor May announced his retirement from baseball on Monday in the most Trevor-May way possible: On the streaming platform Twitch.
“I have a thousand things what I want to do, a million things… everything I enjoy outside of the game has just lit me up, and I really enjoy doing it,” he said. “I love talking pitching. I love talking about the game, I love teaching people about the game… This isn’t the end of my relationship with baseball. If anything, I’ll do more stuff with the game. But I want to go out on my own terms.”
May, who spent his final nine-year career with the Oakland A’s, finished with a 3.28 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 46 2/3 innings, serving as the team’s eventual closer.
May landed on the injured list at the beginning of the season with issues related to anxiety.
“It’s the right thing to do for someone that’s really struggling in terms of anxiety, in terms of what he’s dealing with,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said in April after the announcement was made.
Since then, May has been open about his mental struggles, and opened up about it during one of his final interviews on A’s Cast.
“I’d say growth-wise, this is probably the most growth I’ve done in the shortest amount of time as a person,” May told A’s Cast’s Johnny Doskow on Sept. 28 following a 2-1 win over his former team, the Minnesota Twins. “You know, I think my relationship with the game of baseball changed a little bit too, in a good way. It wasn’t very healthy there for a while, and I saw it as something that was kind of life or death. Just kind of gave me feelings that I didn’t want to have a lot and that’s kind of reversed on me a little it.”
May wasn’t the first to land on the IL with similar reasons.
Detroit Tigers outfielder Austin Meadows had stepped away from the game twice with anxiety issues. Just like May, he had the support of his teammates, and everyone involved.
“But I think we found a good place, a good relationship with results, with statistics — which is like — everything, and yeah, I made some promises to myself, especially coming back off of the anxiety thing and just like, I had a way I wanted to approach the game and I feel very proud that I’ve done that.”
May said there wasn’t a goal to turn his season around from previous struggles on the mound, but to enjoy what he’s doing as long as he could.
“Try to find a peace, and I feel like that peace is there for the most part,” May added. “And that’s all I really wanted.”
May finished his nine-year career with a 4.24 career ERA across three teams.
[A’s Cast]
About Jessica Kleinschmidt
Jess is a baseball fan with Reno, Nev. roots residing in the Bay Area. She is the host of "Short and to the Point" and is also a broadcaster with the Oakland A's Radio Network. She previously worked for MLB.com and NBC Sports Bay Area.