Recharged Percival leads Rays on, off field
All-time saves leaders
"I'm thinking, 'This guy is in the top 10 in the history of the game in saves. He's asking a young rookie like me to teach him how to throw a changeup. I don't understand it,'" Shields recalls.
Shields, 26, isn't actually a rookie — he's a third-year pitcher, one of the game's top changeup artists and perceptive in his observations.
Quickly, he figured out that "Percy" is different.
Different enough to learn a new changeup grip at 38.
Different enough to rag on everyone from the owner to the batboy, yet draw universal respect.
Different enough to re-emerge as one of the game's top relievers after spending nearly two years in injury-induced retirement.
Rays manager Joe Maddon, Percival's former bench coach with the Angels, can't believe it. The high-velocity Percival of old is now a four-pitch demon — who, by the way, can still touch 94 mph.
The changeup is his new toy.
"I can throw it actually as hard as I can," Percival says, referring to his arm action, not the speed of the pitch. "I've never had a changeup where I could actually go after it as hard as I wanted."
Percival, no longer hindered by right forearm trouble, also is back to throwing his curveball, a pitch he barely used after returning to the majors last season with the Cardinals.
Talent scout
Troy Percival signed with the Tampa Bay Rays because he believed the team was on the verge of becoming competitive. Early in spring training, he said the Rays reminded him of his previous team — the Detroit Tigers, who produced five straight 90-loss seasons before reaching the World Series in 2006."I did my homework before I came here — just like I did when I went to Detroit (in 2005)," Percival said. "I knew what the ability (level) was (with Detroit). No one else saw it, evidently, because I got worn out for signing there.
"I was saying, 'Guys, I don't need the money. I'm not running to money. I'm running for a chance to win.' I knew it would take maybe two years. Sure enough, they're in the World Series in two years.
"Do I foresee that here? I definitely foresee a good possibility of the playoffs in the next two years. At some point, you've got to realize that young, athletic talent will take over. You'd love to have every team as experienced as the Yankees and Boston are. It's not feasible. But talent for talent, this team can play with anybody."
— Ken Rosenthal
The results have been nothing short of astonishing.
Percival is 7-for-7 in save opportunities for the Rays, allowing — get this — three baserunners in 11 innings.
Since coming out of retirement last June 26, he has held opposing hitters to a .149 batting average, the best in the majors among pitchers who have thrown a minimum of 50 innings during that span.
His 1.41 ERA is the third-best among major-league relievers over that time, behind only the Phillies' J.C. Romero and Twins' Joe Nathan.
Yet, Percival's importance to the Rays goes far beyond his performance. He is one of the game's most renowned mentors, often grilling the Rays' young pitchers about pitch sequences and how to mentally approach different hitters.
The Rays bullpen features other veterans such as Dan Wheeler and Trever Miller, but Percival is by far the most boisterous presence — loud, profane and merciless.
"He's like a good comedian," Miller says. "He leaves no stone unturned."
Shields seemingly should be exempt from Percival's needling after teaching the old dog a new pitch, but he knows better than to expect such relief.
"No, no, no, no," Shields says, smiling. "He's Percy, man."
And the Rays love him for it.
"I think we need to get kicked in the butt a little bit," Shields says. "I think we need a reality check. Sometimes we think our stuff doesn't stink."
Adds left-hander Scott Kazmir: "He definitely keeps on your toes."
Of course, Percival doesn't exactly hang out with the young guys. He went looking for golf partners in spring training, but learned quickly that most of his new teammates prefer video games. So Percival plays golf with the team's clubhouse attendants instead.
Miller, 35, is Percival's long-toss partner — an improvement over the Cardinals' Jason Isringhausen, Percival jokes, considering that Izzy "liked to get out there 500 feet away."
Miller stands at a more reasonable distance. Percival tosses the ball back to him with minimal exertion, a departure from his earlier days.
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| Young James Shields has armed Percival with a new changeup. (Mike Carlson / Associated Press) |
"I wouldn't call what we do long," Miller says, chuckling. "We're older guys that understand that we don't need to throw 20 minutes a day to be able to pitch in a game. We try to conserve our BBs a little bit, especially with him going through his first full season in a while."
Since 2004, to be exact.
In hindsight, Percival recognizes that his arm simply needed time to heal. He kept throwing in the off-season after getting injured with the Tigers in '05, as if he could will himself back to health.
It didn't happen, but with proper rest, his arm recovered. His successful comeback with the Cardinals earned him a two-year, $8 million free-agent contract with the Rays — and a fresh outlook on his career.
"At this point, there's nothing to lose," Percival says. "I don't go out there and think about my arm at all. If something unforeseen happens, it happens.
"I do everything in my power to give myself every opportunity to get out there. I get my therapy every day. I put a hot pack on it to make sure that everything is soft and warm so I'm not going out there with a cold arm. I spend three innings in here doing nothing but getting my arm ready to throw my one inning."
He has done it 11 times this season with nary a blemish. He has done it with a new team, a new routine and — thanks to James Shields — a new changeup.
"His has a lot more action than mine does," Percival says, grinning slyly. "But mine works."
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