Corvallis resident Kevin Gregg is entering his 18th year as pro.

Kevin Gregg is an MLB free agent.

He has six seasons with more than 20 saves as the team’s closer — including a 33-save campaign last year with the Chicago Cubs in his age-35 season — but he has not been able to land a job two weeks after pitchers and catchers reported to Spring Training.

“I’m coming off a pretty good year, so I didn’t think I’d be at the start of Spring Training without a job,” Gregg said. “It’s kind of an interesting spot for me to be in. I’ve got to play it out and see.”

In the meantime, Gregg is working out at Corvallis High School.

He was born in Corvallis and played Little League, high school and American Legion baseball in the mid-sized Benton County city before the Oakland A’s drafted him out of high school in 1996.

He has played for six organizations in his 17-year pro career, played in packed stadiums in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston, but Corvallis is the only place he’s ever wanted to call his home.

“I’ve been all over the country and no place really resonated with me like Corvallis,” he said. “I raise my own kids here now and I really enjoy it.”

Gregg plans on continuing to raise his children here and stay in Corvallis after his playing career is finished.

He isn’t ready for that day just yet.

“I don’t think I’m ready to retire,” Gregg said. “I still have a lot of innings left in me. I feel like the job opportunity will come, it’s just a matter of time.”

Gregg made at least 60 appearances per season as the closer for the Florida Marlins, Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles and the Cubs in six of the past seven seasons.

Life as a relief pitcher isn’t glamorous.

Major league clubs often won’t dole out the big bucks for relievers, and rarely sign them to long-term contracts. Only four relievers have ever signed for more than three years. Of the 76 pitchers who signed a free agent contract this offseason, just 14 were for more than one year.

“We’re like the offensive line of the baseball world,” Gregg said. “We’re the last to get any credit and the first to get all the blame. It comes with the territory. It doesn’t bother me. It’s part of the game and it’s the way it’s always been.”

Gregg says he is waiting for the right offer for himself and his family. He would be willing to take on a seventh- or eighth-inning role for a team that has postseason aspirations, but wouldn’t do the same for a team that may lose 100 games.

His experience last year is one that sticks with him as motivation for finding the right fit for the upcoming season.

Gregg signed a contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers in February, but they let him go prior to the start of the season.

“Things happen,” Gregg said. “I pitched great in Spring Training last year — still got released. The baseball world is very fickle in that sense.”

Two weeks into the season, the Cubs gave him a call. Six months later, he finished tied for seventh in the National League in saves.

He’s willing to be a setup man if an opportunity to join a contender arises, but he still views himself as a closer. It’s a role he lives for.

“All the pressure is on you,” Gregg said. “They hand you the ball, ‘We’re winning or losing with you, so let’s go.’ The work that 24 other guys plus the coaching staff has put together to win the game is all on your back. So it’s a lot of pressure. Some people really like that. Some people don’t. I love it.”

Corvallis High senior catcher Tyger Liner has been the catcher for a few of Gregg’s bullpen sessions last year and this year. Liner says Gregg’s stuff is better this year.

“He throws really hard just playing catch,” Liner said. “Then once you get down there, he’s such a big guy throwing the ball at you, it was definitely nerve-wracking at first.”

Gregg has worked with the Spartans baseball team in previous years before he headed to Arizona or Florida for Spring Training. Their schedules haven’t lined up as well this year, but he still hangs around, works out at the facilities and chats with the players from time to time.

“It’s definitely a really nice presence to have in our program, especially early in the year,” Liner said. “Just seeing what he does is really impressive. Getting to catch him is definitely a privilege to have — a high school player getting to catch an MLB player is not something you get to do everyday.”

Gregg said he’d love to be involved with the program after he retires, but retirement is something he doesn’t even want to contemplate right now.

The veteran right-hander has appeared in 571 games in his career, with a lifetime 4.07 earned run average and 177 saves.

Despite being away for eight to nine months out of the year, his wife and children travel with him as often as possible.

Even when he’s traveling around the country, Corvallis is the place he began, and the place he’ll always end up.

“I love this place and everything about it,” he said. “The true sense of community that comes out of Corvallis is what really sticks with you.”

Warner Strausbaugh, editor-in-chief

On Twitter @WStrausbaugh

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