Troy Percival
Percival with the Cardinals in 2007
Pitcher
Born: (1969-08-09) August 9, 1969
Fontana, California, U.S.
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 26, 1995, for the California Angels
Last MLB appearance
May 21, 2009, for the Tampa Bay Rays
MLB statistics
Win–loss record35–43
Earned run average3.17
Strikeouts781
Saves358
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Troy Eugene Percival (born August 9, 1969) is an American baseball coach and former professional baseball pitcher. He gained fame as a closer. During a 14-year baseball career spanning from 1995 to 2009, he pitched for four Major League Baseball (MLB) teams, primarily with the California/Anaheim Angels. He was an integral part of that franchise's 2002 World Series championship team.

Early career

Percival started playing baseball at Moreno Valley Youth Federation (MVYF). Percival played on the Moreno Valley High School baseball team, before attending the University of California, Riverside, where he played college baseball for the Highlanders from 1987–1990.[1] He was then drafted by the California Angels in the 6th round of the 1990 amateur draft as a catcher. He batted .203 in his only season as a catcher with the Boise Hawks and was converted to a pitcher when coaches noticed that his return throws to the mound were actually faster than the pitches he caught. He made his Major League debut as a reliever in 1995, and was mostly used as a setup man for Lee Smith. He was coached by his father Richard Percival for all of his childhood years.[2]

Closer career

In 1996, he became the regular closer for the Angels and had 36 saves with 100 strikeouts in 74 innings. He is one of only six pitchers in the Angels' 44-year history to strike out at least 100 batters in a season without starting a game. The others are Mark Clear (105, 1980), DeWayne Buice (109, 1987), Bryan Harvey (101, 1991) Scot Shields (109, 2004) and Francisco Rodríguez (123, 2004).

He had a career-high 42 saves in 1998, and enjoyed his best season in 2002 with a 4–1 record, 40 saves, 68 strikeouts, and a 1.92 ERA. That year en route to winning the World Series, he was 7 for 7 in save opportunities, tying John Wetteland for most saves in one postseason (since tied by Brad Lidge, Koji Uehara and Greg Holland; Robb Nen was also 7 for 7 but blew one on the eighth opportunity).

A four-time All-Star, Percival compiled a 29–38 record with a 2.99 ERA in 586.2 innings for the Angels. His 355 saves grant him inclusion in the 300 save club. However, his strikeouts per nine innings went down considerably after his years as an elite closer. In 2001, his K/9 rate was 11.08 and decreased to 5.98 in 2004. His fastball, once clocked consistently at 96–100 MPH, was down to about 92–93 MPH in 2004, due to a degenerative hip condition that first appeared in 2003, which forced him to alter his pitching delivery.

Percival's contract with the Angels expired in 2004 and he became a free agent at the end of that season. Rather than bring Percival back, the Angels decided to turn to young phenom Francisco Rodríguez to close, motivated largely by Rodríguez's much lower price tag and concerns about Percival's age and health. The Angels offered to negotiate a reduced role (at a correspondingly reduced salary) for Percival to return as a setup man, but Percival decided to seek opportunities elsewhere that would allow him to remain a closer.

Later career and retirement

Percival signed with the Detroit Tigers as a free agent for the 2005 season. However, after a mediocre start to his career at Comerica Park, during which he converted eight saves from 11 opportunities and posted an ERA of 5.76, Percival suffered a serious injury to his right forearm in early July. The severity of the injury ended his season, and put the rest of his career in doubt.

After attempting to recuperate, Percival reported to spring training for the Tigers in 2006. However, on his first outing he again suffered significant pain and left the team. After spending the entire 2006 season on the Tigers' disabled list and working for the team as an advance scout, Percival's contract with the Tigers expired at the end of the 2006 season.

Though he didn't pitch a game during the Tigers' run to the American League Championship, the team voted Percival a ring and a full playoff share. Appreciative of this gesture, he used the money to buy a suite at Comerica Park for his teammates' wives.

In November and December 2006, during his time off from baseball, Percival funded and personally built a new clubhouse at the Riverside Sports Complex, the home venue of his college baseball program, UC Riverside.[3]

Comeback and second retirement

Percival throwing out the ceremonial first pitch before an Angels game in 2012

On January 19, 2007, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim hired Percival as a special assignment pitching instructor. However, believing his arm to have finally healed, he requested his release from his minor league coaching contract to pursue a comeback. Percival signed a contract with the St. Louis Cardinals and joined the big league team on June 26, 2007.[4][5][6] Percival was the fourth member of the 2002 championship Angels team to play for the 2007 Cardinals, joining David Eckstein, Scott Spiezio, and Adam Kennedy, as well as former Angels teammate Jim Edmonds.

Percival made his first appearance in the Majors since 2005 on June 29, 2007, against the Cincinnati Reds. He struck out the first batter he faced, David Ross, and was also credited with the win.

On November 29, 2007, he signed a two-year, $8 million contract with the Tampa Bay Rays. The contract contained up to $4 million in performance-based incentives.[7] Percival was the team's primary closer in 2008.

On May 22, 2009, a day after allowing 2 runs in 1/3 of an inning against the Oakland Athletics, Percival was placed on Tampa Bay's disabled list, and has not pitched since. On August 11, 2009 he announced that he was likely to retire, and would cease his attempts at coming back from his current injury.

Coaching career

From 2010 to 2012, Percival was a volunteer pitching coach at Riverside Polytechnic High School.[8] On September 24, 2012, Percival was hired as head varsity baseball coach at his alma mater, Moreno Valley High School.[9] On July 26, 2014, he was named head coach of the UC Riverside baseball team.[10] On November 11, 2020, Percival resigned as head coach of the Highlanders, citing the desire to help his son through the professional ranks as his reason for resignation.[11]

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
UC Riverside Highlanders (Big West Conference) (2015–2020)
2015 UC Riverside 15–404–209th[12]
2016 UC Riverside 26–2912–12T–4th[13]
2017 UC Riverside 22–328–16T–7th[14]
2018 UC Riverside 19–337–178th[15]
2019 UC Riverside 20–368–16T–7th
2020 UC Riverside 9–70–0Season canceled due to COVID-19
Total:111–177

Personal life

Percival's son, Cole, was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 31st round of the 2017 MLB Draft.

Notes

  1. ↑ "University of California, Riverside Baseball Players Who Made it to the Major Leagues". Baseball-Almanac.com. Archived from the original on 12 July 2004. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
  2. ↑ "Troy Percival - Riverside Sport Hall of Fame". www.riversidesporthalloffame.com. 2 May 2012.
  3. ↑ Shaikin, Bill (12 February 2007). "Percival Delivers New Home Base". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 1 August 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
  4. ↑ "Former Angel Troy Percival returns as special assignment pitching instructor". Los Angeles Angels. January 19, 2007. Archived from the original on December 25, 2007. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
  5. ↑ Molony, Jim (May 22, 2007). "Inside Pitch: Percival ready to reload". MLB.com. Archived from the original on July 16, 2007. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
  6. ↑ DiComo, Anthony (June 26, 2007). "Percival back in big leagues". St. Louis Cardinals. Archived from the original on August 11, 2007. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
  7. ↑ Olney, Buster (November 29, 2007). "Percival signs two-year, $8 million deal with Rays". ESPN. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
  8. ↑ "Troy Percival, Head Baseball Coach". UC Riverside. Retrieved June 11, 2016.
  9. ↑ Krider, Dave. "Troy Percival hired as baseball coach at alma mater". MaxPreps. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 30, 2014.
  10. ↑ Steele, Allan. "BASEBALL: Percival to be named UCR's new coach". The Press Enterprise. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Troy Percival resigns as UC Riverside baseball coach". The Press-Enterprise. November 11, 2020. Archived from the original on November 13, 2020.
  12. ↑ "Baseball - 2015 standings". Big West Conference. Retrieved June 11, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Baseball - 2016 standings". Big West Conference. June 22, 2016. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Baseball - 2017 standings". Big West Conference. June 19, 2017. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  15. ↑ "Baseball - 2018 standings". Big West Conference. June 10, 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
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