Percival brings plenty to Tigers
New closer already providing leadership
LAKELAND, Fla. -- The more people learn about Troy Percival, the more sense
it makes that he would end up with the Tigers, almost like a script. The auto
nut ends up in Detroit.
Yeah, Percival loves cars, but not in a Jose Canseco kind of a way in which
he just drives them. Most any Major Leaguer loves driving cars. Percival
loves working on them and has loved being in a garage ever since he was 10
years old watching his dad.
He renovates and collects classic cars, and still owns a few of them: a 1956
Ford, a '66 Chevelle and a '67 Camaro. He enjoys new cars, too, but he sold
his BMW and Porsche turbo before he left California to drive his Chevy
Suburban and a new Ford Mustang he just bought.
He swears he didn't come to Detroit for the cars.
"Yeah, it just worked out that way," he says with a smile.
He doesn't have enough time in the offseason to rebuild them all by himself.
He actually loves putting in a finishing touch like a car stereo. The Tigers'
pitching staff already has a stereo in the clubhouse, but if he can help
finish off that rebuilding project, he'll have earned his two-year, $12
million contract in his day job.
To read the quotes coming out of Angels camp this week, his presence is
already missed, a week and a half before Spring Training games begin and six
weeks ahead of Opening Day. His success working with Francisco Rodriguez,
ironically, is a big reason he's not there anymore.
It's taken just a few days to see that on display here. The corridor where
most pitchers' lockers sit has always been a congested place for
conversation. Already, Percival's presence commands it.
"You know how you look for those leader types? He's the one," Brandon Inge
said.
Newly acquired Kyle Farnsworth said he hasn't even learned how to pitch yet.
Having his locker next to Percival's in camp gives him a good place to do it.
"He's always in my ear every day," Farnsworth said with a smile.
In that way, Percival's career has made the cycle. He was the guy listening a
decade ago when Lee Smith was the Angels' closer, more of a pitcher and less
of a fireballer than in his younger years. The biggest lesson Percival
learned from him was how to handle defeat.
"I sat on Lee Smith's hip every day," Percival said. "During stretching, I
would ask him as many questions as I could, because I feel like you can
really progress a lot faster if you take things in and try them. Maybe they
work for you, maybe they don't. But I think you can really progress your
career a lot faster if you're open to suggestions."
His goals remain the same every season: Get to the postseason and make the
guys around him better. He'll wait until he's retired to look at the personal
stats.
"Whether I have a 4.00 ERA or a 1.00 ERA," he said, "as long as I get the
saves and keep this team headed in the right direction, that's what I'm
looking to do."
If his performance didn't prove his advice, he'd probably have become a coach
by now -- or at least a setup man. Percival has 316 career saves to show for
his work, and he has 33 saves from last season to show he can still do it. In
two workouts in Tigers camp, he has manager Alan Trammell raving about his
performance.
His approach has improved with age. He has long since grown up from that
brash young thrower with the steel glare coming from his nearsighted eyes and
a blistering fastball from his gifted right arm. Like Smith when Percival
came up, Percival knows how to work a batter with a repertoire.
"I've definitely learned that getting quick outs is a lot easier on your body
and a lot more successful that going out there, trying to overpower guys from
the first pitch on, trying to strike everybody out," Percival said. "There's
a time for that.
"I'm going to go out and give it everything I've got. I'm not going to try to
outthink the game, but I have picked up new pitches and I have learned the
hitters a lot and I know weaknesses and strengths."
He backs that up with studious video work. He watches opponents at bat not
just from season to season, but week to week. He'll watch 10 to 15 pitches of
his own work each week to make sure his form is right. And when it's not,
he'll pull out game tapes anytime from his rookie year to last season.
In a few days of watching Detroit's young relievers work in person, he sees a
group that could become really good, really soon.
"A lot of fantastic arms," Percival said. "You don't see this many good arms
in one camp. From watching them over the past few years, I think it's just a
lot of approach that needs to be changed as far as aggression, learning to
stay out of the middle of the zone, learning that 92 [mph] located is a lot
better than 95 belt-high down the middle. And that's something that young
guys have to learn."
If he can help them learn that, all the better. He's not going to be a coach
and teach mechanics, not while he's still playing. But he'll teach
approaches, point out strengths and weakness, and maybe suggest a first
pitch.
He's a classic. But at the same time, he's the prototype for newer versions.
"I've been written off four different times in my career," Percival said.
"You have a bad half and people think you're done. I just keep plugging away
and doing my job. Hopefully at the end of the year, the team's winning and
you end up having a good year."
--
To opengoodbook: 在嗎
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To opengoodbook: 你會不會在意昨天的事啊?? ._./
★opengoodbook 我忘了or2
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