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. 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 , 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. Closer career In , 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, ), DeWayne Buice (109, ), Bryan Harvey (101, ) Scot Shields (109, ) and Francisco Rodríguez (123, 2004). He had a career-high 42 saves in , and enjoyed his best season in 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 8th 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 , his K/9 rate was 11.08. In 2002, 10.86. In , 8.76. And