The Athletics made several roster moves this week, with the two prominent transactions being the call-up of top pitching prospect Mason Miller from Triple-A Las Vegas and placing reliever Trevor May on the 15-day injured list.
May, who transitioned from a starter to a reliever, will be out for the A’s as the right-handed pitcher deals with anxiety-related issues. Oakland general manager David Forst applauded the 33-year-old’s ability to come out publicly about his mental health.
“I commend Trevor for speaking up about his mental health, and for taking action to address it,” Forst told reporters Wednesday.
“The whole A’s organization supports him fully and we are committed to giving Trevor whatever time he needs to be ready to return to playing, as well as continued resources to help all our players tackle the physical and mental challenges they face daily.”
May isn’t the only player to step away from baseball due to a mental health reason. Both Detroit Tigers outfielder Austin Meadows and Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Daniel Bard recently were placed on the injured list for similar reasons.
“I want to use my story to just give hope for people to get through really hard things, especially in sports,” Bard told Bally Sports in March (h/t Fan Nation). “But also people outside of sports and different areas, different walks of life. Different professions where they hit a roadblock and feel like they lost their ability to do something they’re supposed to be good at.
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“I don’t necessarily have clear-cut, take-this-pill kind of solutions, but I do have a lot of things I know helped me and are a piece of the healing process for me.”
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Along with the promotion of Miller and sending May to the injured list, the A’s placed outfielder Ramón Laureano on the 10-day injured list with a strained left groin. Meanwhile, right-handed pitcher Dany Jiménez was transferred to the 60-day injured list.
Furthermore, the A’s and San Francisco Giants made a minor trade as Oakland sent outfielder Cal Stevenson to their Bay Area rival for cash considerations to wrap up the busy Wednesday.