Rick Ankiel's Updated Story

On August 9, 2007, Rick Ankiel of the St. Louis Cardinals hit a three-run home run in his Major League debut as an outfielder. Normally, that information would be big news to his friends and family, and maybe to a handful of diehard Cardinals' fans. But this isn't a normal story. No, Rick Ankiel's baseball journey has been anything but normal.

Rick Ankiel was once a Rookie Pitching Sensation

In 2000, Rick Ankiel was the best rookie pitcher in the major leagues. He threw a 97 mile per hour fastball, had a wicked slider, and looped a 12-to-6 curveball that buckled the knees of the greatest hitters in the world.

Ankiel finished the regular season at 11-7 with an ERA of 3.50 and 194 strikeouts in just 175 innings. He finished second in the NL Rookie of the Year voting. It was a dream season. Well, it was a dream season until the calendars turned to October. Then the nightmare began.

LaRussa chose to start Ankile in Game 1 of the National League Divisional Series against future 300 game winner Greg Maddux and the Atlanta Braves. In the first two innings, Maddux got roughed up while Ankiel held the potent Braves offense at bay.

Then came the third inning. That's when it all went wrong. Disastrously wrong. For some unexplained reason, Ankiel couldn't find the plate. Heck, he couldn't have found the side of barn if he was standing ten feet away. During the inning Ankiel walked four batters, gave up four runs, and threw a major league record five wild pitches. Manager Tony LaRussa yanked the rookie before he could suffer any more damage.

When Ankiel pitched a week later in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets, he was even worse. Of the 20 pitches that he threw in the first inning, five sailed over the head of his catcher. La Russa was forced to pull him in the second inning when Ankiel walked three straight batters. In total, he lasted just 1 1/3 innings, surrendered four runs, gave up five walks and threw six wild pitches.*

After the Cardinals lost to the Mets, everyone in the Cardinals organization must have been praying that Ankiel's control would return by next spring training. After all, he had been awful, but it was only for a few innings in a high pressure scenario. He should get better, or so they may have thought.

The Pitching Woes Continue

But Ankiel's wildness continued from his first start in 2001 until he was finally sent down to AAA a few weeks later. During his time in the majors that season, Ankiel made six starts, lasted an average of only four innings per start, posted an ERA of 7.32 and desperately continued to search for his lost control. In just 24 innings, he walked 25 batters and threw 6 wild pitches.

In the minor leagues, things got really ugly: in 4 1/3 innings at AAA Memphis, Ankiel walked seventeen (17) batters and threw twelve (12) wild pitches. He also had an absurldy high ERA of 20.77. After these repeated failures, Ankiel was sent all the way down to rookie ball.

Over the next three years, the pitcher bounced around the different levels in the Cardinals' system, where he pitched badly most of the time. Then, in 2003, he injured his elbow and had Tommy John surgery. He made another ill-fated comeback in 2004 but he never recovered the control and command that he'd possessed in 2000. Rick Ankiel's career seemed to be over, and he was still just 25 years old.

New Life As a Hitter

With his pitching career in shambles, Ankiel announced on March 9, 2005, that he wanted to play outfield. Although he had always been a good hitter and fielder for a pitcher, few believed that he could be a productive everyday player at the minor league leavel, let alone in the majors.

But Ankiel put together a nice year in 2005 in A and AA ball. In 2006, he was invited to compete for a roster spot as an outfielder with the big league club. He didn't make it though, and was sent down to play AAA ball. Rick was off to a good start but then he tore up his knee, had surgery and sat out three-quarters of the season.

Rick Ankiel becomes a Top Prospect Once Again

In 2007, Ankiel returned to playing and made a huge splash with the AAA Memphis Redbirds of the Pacific Coast League (PCL). In just 102 games with the Cardinals' AAA affiliate, Ankiel hit .267 and led the PCL with 32 home runs and 89 RBI. He also made several defensive plays that saved games for the team. He made the AAA all-star team and is still a favorite to earn several Minor League Player of the Year awards.

In fact, Ankiel was hitting so well, and the Cardinals were in such need of a good bat, that they called him up to start last night.

A Second Major League Debut

In the game against the San Diego Padres, Ankiel failed to reach base on his first two at-bats. But when he came to the plate in the seventh inning, Ankiel connected with a Doug Brocail fastball and somehow pulled the ball from its position on the outside corner of the plate and drove it over the wall in right-center field. A three-run homer.

As he traveled around the bases, manager Tony LaRussa, known for his stoic manner in the dugout, burst into cheers and clapping for the kid who had to give up the thing that he loved the most and that he once did the best for the chance of maybe, one day, playing as an outfielder. And here he was. Playing outfield and hitting a home run.

"Short of winning the World Series, it's the happiest I've seen our club," La Russa said. ""I'm fighting my butt off to keep it together. Next to striking out [Detroit Tiger Brandon] Inge, that's the happiest I've been in this uniform."

Ankiel had difficulty finding words to capture the moment. "Unbelievable," Ankiel said. "You almost can't put that into words."

Continued Major League Hitting Success and an HGH Link

By the first week of September, Ankiel was stil proving that his first game hitting success was no fluke. In a mere 24 games, Ankiel is hitting .353 with 9 home runs and 29 RBI. That makes him the best hitter in al of baseball, on a game-for-game basis. Yes, it's a small sample of games, but still, pretty impressive for anybody, let alone an ex-pitcher.

Ankiel's feel good story has recently come under a cloud. That's right. It seems no one is safe from the pall cast over the great game by performance enhancing drugs. A September 6, 2007 article in the New York Daily News claimed that Ankiel had received numerous shipments of Human Growth Hormone from an internet based pharamcy.

On September 7, Ankiel answered the article by admitting that, yes indeed, he had received HGH in late 2004 and early 2005 when he was working to recover from elbow surgery. However, Ankiel pointed out that he (1) had a prescription for the HGH from Dr. William Grogan, a Florida doctor, and (2) he only took HGH before it was outlawed by the MLB.

Cardinals' General Manager Walt Jocketty said he was satisfied that nothing improper had occurred. "Everything was legal," he said. "There was no violation of Major League rules. There was no violation of any laws. At this point, if there's anything more to decide, Major League baseball will look at it and let us know."

Major League Baseball has asked to meet with Ankiel to discuss the situation. In response tot he request, Ankiel said: "I'll be happy to help and conduct anything that Major League Baseball wants to talk about it."

Where this wild ride goes next, nobody knows.

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* Ankiel was only charged with three wild pitches and his catcher was charged with passed balls on the rest, but observers of the game universally agree that no catcher in the history of the game could have gotten a glove on those disputed pitches.

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