Troy Percival

Percival with the Cardinals in 2007

Pitcher

Born: August 9, 1969 (age 47)
Fontana, California

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

703

35–43

3.17

781

358

Teams

Career highlights and awards

4× All-Star (1996, 1998, 1999, 2001)
World Series champion (2002)

Troy Eugene Percival (born August 9, 1969) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher and current head coach at UC Riverside. He gained fame as a closer. During a 14-year baseball career, he pitched from 1995–2009 for four different teams, pitching primarily with the California/Anaheim Angels. He was also an integral part of that franchise's 2002 World Series championship team. Percival currently ranks 10th in career saves.

He started playing baseball at Moreno Valley Youth Federation (MVYF) and was coached by Bill Yearsley in his early years. 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. 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.

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).

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