Troy Percival wants pitchers to care more about eyes than iPads. The Angels might agree

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Early this fall, during minor league instructional camp, the Angels invited one of the most decorated pitchers in franchise history to help work with their up-and-coming prospects.

Troy Percival wasn’t a fan of what he saw.

He wasn’t frustrated with the pitchers or how they were throwing. Rather, Percival told The Athletic, his reaction stemmed from how technology was being used by people in player development.

“I’m not one that’s big on using the iPads,” said Percival, who spent six seasons as the head coach at UC Riverside. “I understand it. I had to understand it through college coaching. I just feel like we need to have coaches with eyes that can see things and put their hands on people and fix them. It’s really difficult to look at an iPad and think that it can make the adjustments that it needs to make.”

Percival said he did not call on anyone to be fired, and merely shared his observations and opinions with Angels farm director Joey Prebynski. But those words seemed to carry weight with the team’s decision-makers. Shortly thereafter, the Angels let go of the two highest-ranking pitching instructors in their farm system: pitching coordinator Buddy Carlyle and pitching performance coordinator Dylan Alexrod. People briefed on the changes said Percival’s frustration with his visit played at least a factor in the Angels’ decision to oust them.