and just hit a 3 run homer.
aint a dry eye in our house, nor Busch Stadium.
If you know his story, you'd know why.
Got a standing O after it. Curtain Call. Going out to right field for the next inning, standing O.
Go Rick Ankiel
Everybody in baseball hopes Scott Spiezio kicks his red-beard dye habit and rejoins the team soon.
I hope Spezer gets his problems fixed.
Does this mean we may get to see Ankiel catch a pop fly in right with a runner tagging and then proceed to fire a rifle shot 10 rows into the stands?
I hate major league baseball, but that's an awesome story. Good for him.and just hit a 3 run homer.
aint a dry eye in our house, nor Busch Stadium.
If you know his story, you'd know why.
Got a standing O after it. Curtain Call. Going out to right field for the next inning, standing O.
Go Rick Ankiel
it's a nice story. he may stick in the bigs as a hitter. he'll hit some HRs, but with a low average and a very low OBP.
From what I recall, he was a good hitter before this call up.
Kudos to Ankiel for his great perseverance. Hope he sticks.
And I don't think you have any kind of factual basis for that statement at all...
Little league through highschool, the pitcher is usually the best athlete on the team in just about every facet of the game....
It's not until college that they stop being able to hit...and it's not always true in college either.
Babe Ruth was a pitcher.
Mark McGwire was a pitcher in college.
Lots of pitchers could hit at one time...
The statement pitchers can't hit isn't usually true until late in college and the majors...and that's primarily because they focus on pitching and not hitting.
Pitchers don't become pitchers because they can't hit...they become pitchers because guys that have the athletic ability to throw both hard and accurately are among the scarcest talents there are.
Additionally...because they are pitchers and have a knowledge of the strike zone...I'd say that you are way way off on the low OBP statement...and the history of pitchers becoming hitters in MLB completely smashes that statement to smithereens...like I said...Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire.
Ankiel steps into the outfield and instantly has one of the strongest outfield arms in all of baseball....pitchers have the strongest arms in baseball.
The reason you don't see more pitchers becoming hitters is because if they can throw in any way shape or form the club wants them to stay pitchers......if a player is talented, particularly if he has a nice arm...the clubs will try to make them a pitcher before they try to make them a position player...unless they are a guy with just some incredible hitting potential.
Pitching is the scarce skill...that's why so rarely do you see a club try to turn a pitcher into a hitter...and you see them trying to turn hitters into pitchers a lot more often.
And if they can even throw junk at the plate with a fair amount of accuracy the club will want them to stay pitching...you have to be one of a great hitter for them to consider converting you from pitching to hitting...Ankiel is a special case....a really unsual case...a guy with a fantastic arm who has a mental block, and won't be pitching, it's really unsual for a guy with his kind of arm to make this switch simpley because they clubs don't want to give up on pitching...don't assume this guy can't hit just because you don't see a pitcher becoming a hitter very often...most of them could at one time, and the reason they stop is because pitching is the most valued talent and aspect of the game by 100% of the big league clubs.
There haven't been too many pitcher to failed hitter conversions...I can't think of any of the top of my head.
Just the fact that this guy was a pitcher who just homered in his first game as a MLB hitter should tell you a lot.
I looked up what he was doing in the minor leagues...sure enough, he was leading his league in HR...this is after hitting being an afterthought to him probably since he was 17 years old aside from the last 2 years.
This guys is probably going to be a great outfielder as the other aspects of the game come back to him after a 10 year layoff...
Then again...he got a mental block about his pitching, no one really understands why, and there's no gurantee he won't develop another.
How cool is that? I mean, it's Rick Ankiel, the one-time fresh-faced phenom with the jaw-dropping curveball and blistering fastball. Rick Ankiel, the coulda-been-greatest lefthanded pitcher the Cardinals ever had. Rick Ankiel, the guy with a bulldog mentality and fragile psyche. Rick Ankiel, the cautionary tale. Rick Ankiel, the pitcher-turned-hitter.
Rick Ankiel, the major league outfielder.
I'm not going to compare this comeback story to the crummy things we sports fans have had to deal with the past few months. You know all about Mike Vick, Tim Donaghy and Barry Bonds. You also know all about Ankiel's struggles. If you need a refresher, this is a good read.
That 2000 playoff game was one of the most painful things I've ever watched. Even now, thinking about it starts twisting that knot in my stomach. Every pitch that went to the backstop, every look of helplessness on his face just was gut-wrenching. But, being a glutton for punishment, I tried to find the video of Game 1 while sitting in the press box at Busch Stadium on Thursday afternoon, thinking some sadistic person surely had the whole painful playoff sequence ready and cued up for the night Ankiel made his "debut." I Googled it. I YouTube'd it.
Nothing.
I found a 4-minute do entary on Ankiel's struggles, but it pretty much focused on one spring training game. Not what I was looking for.
Probably a good thing.
So I went down to the field to watch Ankiel take batting practice in Busch for the first time in forever. He hopped into the cage each and every turn, hitting between Ryan Ludwick and So Taguchi. He's a different guy now. The hair with the blond highlights has disappeared, along with the No. 66 he wore during that infamous outing and the No. 49 he donned in seasons after that. His hair is cropped short, his uniform number is 24. Feels odd.
He stood in the cage with his hands in tight to his body, reminiscent of the way he cupped his glove tightly against his right wrist when he was, at times, the most untouchable pitcher in baseball. Ankiel fouled off a ton of pitches in BP. Not the kind of foul balls that go straight back, the ones the hitter barely missed squaring up. These were the kind that hit the top of the cage or were tipped off toward third base. The kind of fouls I would hit if I stood in against an Alan Benes batting-practice fastball. Maybe he was just nervous. I'm sure he was.
But on his final swing, he laced a line drive into the gap in left-center. A good, solid, balanced swing, a swing that put a smile on his face as he signed a bunch of autographs for kids before he retreated back into the clubhouse to prepare for his first game in the big leagues since 2004. This time around, he was hitting second in the lineup -- the lineup card read Eckstein, then Ankiel, then Pujols -- and playing right field.
He got a standing ovation before his first at-bat. Not unexpected, but still pretty cool. San Diego's starter, though, was Chris Young, the 6-10 righthander who leads the majors in ERA and has held opponents to a .184 batting average this year. Ankiel popped up on an 0-1 pitch to shortstop Khalil Greene in his first at-bat. He struck out looking in his second at-bat, swinging in his third. Just one good swing in those three trips to the plate, a fastball he fouled straight back, the kind he just missed squaring up.
Storybook, schmorybook, right? This is the big leagues, kid. Who cares how many homers you hit at Memphis?
Then, wow.
Just, wow.
With the Cards up, 2-0, and two on and two out in the seventh inning, Ankiel stepped to the plate against Doug Brocail. First base was open, but no way the Padres were scared of pitching to Ankiel. Then, with one flick of the bat, a nice, easy, balanced swing, he sent a fly ball screaming toward the right field stands. I thought the same thing everyone in the stadium thought: "No way he just did that ..."
But the ball landed over the wall, 384 feet from home plate, and Ankiel pumped his fist as he sprinted around the bases with the Cardinals ahead, 5-0. Holy cow.
Welcome back, Rick.
OR...it's based completely on statistical evidence. His minor league numbers show a guy with plus power, but poor strike zone judgement.
Now, since he's only been solely a position player for a few years, it's possible that he can be a rarity and still make major improvements in his game at 28 years old. However, the odds-on favorite at the moment is that he projects to a player who strikes out too much, doesn't walk enough, and hits more than his fair share of HRs.
His minor league numbers also show a guy that's only been back hitting for about a year and a half after probably 7-8 years of hitting being an after thought...
I think his numbers are impressive across the board considering he is basically having to turn himself into a hitter at the age of 26 or so.
I've also read that the most impressive thing about his game so far is not his power but his fielding...
He's really only been doing it for a year...he got injured in 2006.Now, since he's only been solely a position player for a few years, it's possible that he can be a rarity and still make major improvements in his game at 28 years old. However, the odds-on favorite at the moment is that he projects to a player who strikes out too much, doesn't walk enough, and hits more than his fair share of HRs.
I am not saying he's the next Ruth...but I am saying it's too early to draw any sort of conclusions as he's very much a project still and he's showing huge rapid gains in becoming a hitter again attempting to do it at such a late stage in his career.
I see now that you were basing your opinion on some statistical eveidence...but I still think you are rushing to judgement...and underestimating the athleticism and talent of pitchers in general. It's hard to throw strikes....it's the hardest thing to do in baseball, and historically speaking...guys who could do that could do just about anything else on the diamond.
Eff the Cards and Eff Ankiel!
There are two schools of thought on strike zone judgment and it really just depends on which one you belong to. Some scouts believe that it can be taught and honed. Others believe that it is an ingrained ability and the hitter either has it or he doesn't. (The latter has been winning out in the 'moneyball' era, but there are still plenty who subscribe to the first).
That said, I agree with you. Given his limited experience, it would surprise me much less to see Ankiel start showing some patience compared to say, Robinson Cano all of sudden drawing walks left and right.
a few years as a position player?
Try this being the 3rd season.
BTW,
3 for 4 today, 2 home runs and a basehit.
5 for 12 so far.
Seems to be juding the strike zone OK.
You could fill 50 Halls of Fame with guys who excelled in their first 12 ABs. If that's important to you, maybe you should trade Pujols for S y Duncan...
I'd trade Encarnacion for Duncan.
Me, too... wait...
Bump.
Ankiel just hit a grand slam to give the Cardinals the lead.
Dude is un believeable....
T-Park, you're Cardinals need to do everything in their power to keep him clear of haggard looking women in black frocks and blonde bombs s slumming with a guy with a "magic eye" ...
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