Scot Shields officially announced his retirement earlier today, confirming the inevitable after a quiet and ostensibly negotiations-free offseason.
The Angels drafted Shields in the 38th round in 1997. Although he started his minor league career as a reliever, the Angels would shift him to the rotation in 1999 and leave him there until 2002, at which point he would become a permanent part of the big league team. Shields returned to the rotation briefly in 2003, making 13 starts before heading back to the bullpen.
Shields took over the eighth inning role in 2004 after Troy Percival departed for Detroit and Francisco Rodriguez became closer, but the genesis of his dominance came seasons earlier. From 2002 through 2008, Shields finished in the top five on the Angels in WXRL while averaging 89 innings a season and posting an aggregate ERA of 2.98. Shields’ peripherals were decent too, as he averaged nearly a strikeout per inning pitched (8.3 per nine) and held a strikeout-to-w...
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