Trevor May discusses signing with Mets

NEW YORK – Once the offseason began and Trevor May became a free agent for the first time in his career, he reignited a conversation with one of his most influential Minnesota pitch coaches, Jeremy Hefner . May strewn her old friend with questions about New York, knowing Hefner

NEW YORK – At the dawn of the offseason and Trevor May became a free agent for the first time in his career, he reignited a conversation with one of his most influential Minnesota pitch coaches, Jeremy Hefner. May peppered her old friend with questions about New York, knowing Hefner had spent years there as a player and now a coach. The two discussed where to live. They talked about May’s place in the Mets survey pen.

Hefner’s presence, May acknowledged at an introductory Zoom talk Thursday, was one of the biggest reasons he signed a two-year, $ 15.5 million deal for the Mets. The other?

“To be honest one of the most important things was just the buzz around Steve [Cohen] and buying the team and the excitement of all the changes that are happening, ”May said. “My immediate reaction was to want to be a part of something like this.”

And now … LFGM. pic.twitter.com/lxLh1uv6Y4

– Trevor “IamTrevorMay” May (@IamTrevorMay) December 3, 2020

Overall, the Mets are hopeful that Cohen’s purchase of the team will help them continue to attract free agents to Queens this winter. On a more granular level, May’s daily orbit will turn closer to Hefner, whose 2021 status is unofficial, but who is expected to return as pitching coach.

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The two met in spring training after the Twins hired Hefner as an advanced scout in 2017. When May tore his ulnar collateral ligament, he bonded with Hefner, who himself twice had Tommy John surgery and prepared his new student for what to expect. This was largely the extent of their interactions until two years later, when Hefner became the Twins’ assistant pitching coach and May returned to full health.

For long hours in the twins’ pen, May and Hefner discussed the best way to improve. May leaned on Hefner’s experience in rehabilitation after Tommy John’s surgery, listening to her trainer talk about flexibility and suppleness as ways to increase her fast ball speed. Both talked about using May’s improved warmer higher up in the strike zone. They dug into his pitch mix, which he had established years earlier as a starter, talking about what worked and what didn’t.

“It was kind of like, ‘Hey, this isn’t working. Why do you think it is? May recalls.

One of the biggest breakthroughs came in a July 17, 2019 game against the Mets, when May allowed Dominic Smith a late home run on a curve ball. For a while, May’s curve had frustrated him as he struggled to differentiate her from her slider.

Smith’s home run ultimately convinced May to cut the pitch altogether, which he did the following week. From that point on, May focused on her other three offers, which improved to posting a 1.33 ERA for the remainder of the season.

“He didn’t live up to the expectations he had for himself,” Hefner said Thursday morning in a telephone interview. “So taking the curveball off, I think, reduced his focus, and he was able to come out confidently with his three throws and dominate.

Over time, those experiences morphed into what May defined as a friendship between him and Hefner. So when May first hit free agency last month, just after a year in which he set career highs in average fastball speed and pullout rates, he knew who. call.

“I don’t consider myself to be a marketer, but I think it’s part of the job now,” Hefner said.

In truth, May was already predominantly sold on the Mets. An outgoing social media personality, May paid particular attention to the buzz Cohen was creating on Twitter by interacting with fans and building excitement for the team. May’s agents spoke of “half the league” in free agency, but “there were a lot of teams not ready to move.”

“In terms of [seriousness]I think the Mets got more serious really quickly, ”said May. “And then it was sort of done.

Now that it does, May plans to dig deeper with Hefner in the coming weeks, reviving his throwing schedule and everything in between as he prepares for a leverage role alongside Edwin Díaz, Jeurys Familia, Dellin Betances and others in the Mets. bullpen.

It’s a place where he feels comfortable. When May was in New York City earlier this week for her physique, her driver recommended an Italian grocery store, Benateri’s, near College Point, so May asked the driver to take a detour there. He bought a sandwich and posed for pictures with the staff, who welcomed him to New York.

“I just had a huge smile on my face for hours,” May said. “I was just like, ‘This is where I’m supposed to be.’ I was super excited about it. Just the feel and the atmosphere, it’s something that I developed on my own, and I think it fits in perfectly.