Give the Man a Hand

Greg Jacobs was feeding bears long before the Angels drafted him.

He perches on a rock outside his family’s vacation home in Colorado, holds out food, usually bread or pancakes, with his right hand--he is, after all, a left-handed pitcher--and waits for the bear to approach.

For seven years, Jacobs has been demonstrating true poise. Yet, this daredevil, cool enough to dangle a limb before hungry bears, cowered in the presence of Angel pitcher Troy Percival.

The two ran across each other last month during voluntary workouts at Edison Field. Percival, one of the top closers in baseball, was there to scrape off off-season rust. Jacobs, drafted in the 13th round last June, was getting ready for his first spring training.

For one of the few times in his life, Jacobs froze.

“Actually, he introduced himself to me,” Jacobs said. “I was like, ‘Uh . . . uh . . . uh . . . how’s it going?’

“I have Percival everything in my room. My little dream is to be the lefty sitting next to him in the bullpen, waiting.”

Jacobs, who played at Canyon High School, still has some traveling to do before cooling his heels in the Angel bullpen. Only about 10% of the players signed ever spend a day in the major leagues. But Jacobs could--and thinks he will--beat the odds.

He has a Class-A short season in Boise behind him. If all goes well this spring, he will be sent to Class-A Cedar Rapids, the next stop on a trail many Angel players have trekked.

Jacobs will report for spring training in Arizona on March 5, and will stay there with other minor leaguers after the Angels start the American League season in April.

“The first spring training can be fun,” Percival said. “It is also very rigorous. You have college kids thrown into a six- or seven-day-a-week job.”

Jacobs, 21, is already learning about that kind of change of pace.

“When I was younger, I thought you played the season and that was it,” Jacobs said. “It’s a lot more than that. Your season is year-round.

“It has been tiring. I was going to take a break when I got home from Boise. I took only two weeks off, then I was back in the gym, 8:30 in the morning, six days a week.”

Grizzly Veteran

Jacobs began feeding bears when he was 14.

“As long as you don’t make any quick movements or stare the bear in the eye, you’ll be fine,” Jacobs said. “They just want to feel dominant.”

A lesson he apparently applied when he met Percival.

“Troy is easier to approach,” Jacobs said. “He doesn’t bite.”

Sure, as long as you catch him after his first cup of coffee and before his eighth.

But this was hardly unfamiliar territory for Jacobs, who grew up in a neighborhood with Angel players. Mark Langston gave him a glove. Rod Carew taught him to hit.

So, after the initial shyness wore off, Jacobs latched on to Percival, who took time to help out a younger player.

“He got in there when I was throwing, maybe he picked up something,” Percival said. “I just helped him a little here and there.”

He helped more than he realizes. In fact, Jacobs eyed Percival so much he may have violated stalker laws.

“I watched him in the bullpen, I watched him warm up, I watched him stretch, I watched him ice his arm just to see how he does it,” said Jacobs, who worked out three days a week at Edison Field. “I mean, he’s in the big leagues for a reason. I probably watched him more than he thinks I watched him.

“He doesn’t know I have a shrine of him in my room. I love the way he handles things. He’s always pumped up and ready to go after people. He’s not scared. He says, ‘Here’s my fastball, hit it if you can.’ That’s kind of how I am. But I don’t make that mush face he does when he’s looking at the catcher’s mitt. It looks like he can’t see the catcher. I talked to the catchers, they said he can’t.”

It was one time where the blind leading the blind got somewhere.

“He showed me a couple grips,” Jacobs said. “A few other pitchers helped me out with some pitches and just being a little tougher.”

The workouts were the first time Jacobs threw a ball since pitching for the Boise Hawks in the Northwest League last summer. The Angels, like all clubs, prefer pitchers to take time off after their rookie seasons.

Jacobs, a relief pitcher and designated hitter at Cal State Fullerton, appeared in 17 games as a pitcher and piled up 57 1/3 innings. He then went to Boise, where he pitched in 25 more games.

“We wanted him to take it easy and get in shape for spring training,” said Jeff Parker, the Angels’ director of player development.

“This is an extremely important year for him. It’s his first exposure to our entire staff. We’ll see everyone, from triple-A down to rookie ball. We’ll formulate opinions and, when we get in the big meeting room, everyone will have something to say.”

Other than that, no pressure at all.

“The bottom line will be, does he get people out?” Parker said. “This is not rocket science.”

Bearing Down

Jacobs is no dummy when it comes to feeding bears.

“I do it with my right hand and keep my left arm behind my back,” he said.

That arm is his shot at the big leagues, where left-handed pitchers seem to last a couple lifetimes . . . remember Frank Tanana and Tommy John? And, of course, Chuck Finley.

Such tenure is a long-term goal; Jacobs is still working at entry level.

“Greg’s goal is to win a job at Cedar Rapids,” Parker said.

Actually, Jacobs is aiming a little higher. He hopes to play at Lake Elsinore, the Angels’ top Class-A team, and he spent the winter getting ready. He hooked up with Tony Buttacavoli, an avid weight trainer. The two attend the same church and Jacobs began tagging along to the gym.

Jacobs was far from being out of shape, but he became obsessed with getting stronger, to the point where he adopted Buttacavoli’s diet. Nothing but fish, chicken and broccoli to reduce body fat.

“I was hoping for another mile [per hour] or two from my fastball,” Jacobs said. “My legs are strong, but not like pitcher strong. You look at every pitcher and he has tree trunks. That’s what I’ve been going for.

“I’ve seen some of the guys I played with last summer and they have done nothing. They look even skinnier than they were before. It will be rude awakening in spring training. I think I’m ready to go.”

He had better be.

This spring Jacobs will be tagged either a prospect or organizational player. A prospect is on the fast track; an organizational player is along for the minor-league bus ride.

“If we have a shortstop we think is a prospect, we need a second baseman who doesn’t drop the ball when he turns a double play,” Parker said. “The second baseman may lack the tools to make it to the big leagues, but he will make the shortstop a better player.

“We’re not always right. They all think they’re prospects and sometimes a guy will play his way into being one. [Former Angel outfielder] Chad Curtis, for example.”

Jacobs intends to earn his prospect status now, not later.

“I want to get down there and show them I have what it takes,” Jacobs said. “I feel I’ll be moving pretty quickly in this organization. They don’t have too many lefties.”

Not one that feeds bears, anyway.