Former Titan Pitcher Popoff Retires From Professional Baseball

James Popoff, an ace of the Cal State Fullerton pitching staff the last three years before making an impressive professional debut in the New York Mets system last summer, has informed the Mets that he is retiring from baseball.

Steve Phillips, director of minor leagues for the Mets, said Popoff told him of the decision about two weeks ago.

“It was surprising,” Phillips said. “He had what we thought was a very good first year in professional baseball. We thought he could be a real sleeper out of the draft.”

Popoff, a 27th-round pick, struck out 19 in his third start for the Pittsfield (Mass.) Mets last June, a club record and a season high in the Class-A New York-Penn League. He went 2-2 with a 1.91 earned-run average for Pittsfield in four games--all starts--before being moved to Columbia (S.C.) of the Class-A South Atlantic League.

He was 4-3 with a 4.34 ERA in Columbia, working 11 games and starting six.

“It was a personal decision, and we respect that,” Phillips said. “We’re certainly disappointed. The guy could have made his way through the system to the major leagues.”

Popoff, a public relations major at Fullerton, said he just wants to finish his degree and forget about baseball for a while.

“It’s a lot of different things,” he said. “It’s just time for me to move on. There are other things I want to do. I’m a little burned out. I had some shoulder problems at the end of last year and it’s been bothering me this winter.”

Although Popoff, a right-hander, said he might have shoulder surgery, Phillips said the Mets are unaware of any shoulder problems Popoff might have.

“At the end of the year last year he was a little arm-weary, so we moved him to the bullpen and used him sparingly,” Phillips said. “We wanted to make sure he wasn’t overused.”

As far as surgery, Phillips said that’s news to him.

“I did not hear that,” Phillips said. “That may have been circulating, but if it’s a fact, our people and trainers are not aware of that.”

Popoff was 13-3 during his senior season at Fullerton and was named the Big West Conference’s most valuable pitcher. He threw a complete-game seven-hitter in a driving rainstorm as the Titans defeated Miami, 8-1, in the College World Series to put them into the championship game against Pepperdine.

That wasn’t the only memorable game of Popoff’s Fullerton career. On his way to a 12-5 record as a sophomore in 1990, he shut out Texas on four hits in the NCAA Central Regional championship game in Austin, Tex.

“There are certainly a lot of guys who want that position on the team,” Phillips said. “We’re very disappointed, but I understand how players get to that point in their careers. For some guys, it’s after 10 years in the bigs. For some, it’s after seven years in the minors.

“For others, it’s after one year in the minors.”