Rick Ankiel hit 2 homers today and he now has 3 in 3 games. He was recently called up to the majors as an outfielder after doing really well in the minors as a hitter. We often hype up a lot of stories on sports for it's emotional and feel-good values, but this is a truly heart-warming story. If you don't remember, Rick Ankiel came into the bigs as a can't miss, flame throwing starting pitcher at the age on 20 in 1999. The guy had a heavy sinker and a devastating curve-ball to go with his 97 MPH fast ball. He was left-handed too. He even started game 1 of the playoffs in 2000 against the Braves and my man Greg Maddux, but mysteriously started throwing wild pitch after wild pitch. It was painful to see a kid with so much potential just lose it mentally and disintegrate on the mound. The Cards had to pull him out of that game and he couldn't regain his control the rest of that playoffs as he was tried a couple more games against the Braves and later the Mets.
More of the same next year as Ankiel's problems only got worse during the regular season. He was sent down to the minors and he never could regain his control at any level. He was sent all the way down to the rookie league where he regained some semblance of normalcy with his pitching. He was given opportunities couple more times by the Cards, but the ugliness never went away. The guy has had a tough life growing up. He had a screwed up dad who pushed him real hard to do well in baseball. The dad was also a criminal who had been arrested 14 times and convicted 6 times. When Ankiel came up to the majors, his dad was in the federal prison doing 6 years for drug crimes. Still the kid grew up to be a nice dude and may be was rushed to the majors too soon by the Cards given his unusual background. So everybody inside and outside the Cards wanted him to succeed, but he just could not get his control back except for a brief stretch in the minors couple of years back.
After several years of trying and failing, Ankiel decided he was going to quit pitching and become an outfielder. Ankiel was a decent hitter and a good athlete growing up. Even in the majors, he was one of the better hitting pitchers. He already had 2 home-runs in the bigs as a pitcher. So he decided to become a hitter full-time and sure enough, he did very well. So well that the Cards decided to call him up this week. He hit a home run his very first at-bat and Tony LaRussa had tears in his eyes. He said it was as exciting as winning the World Series last year. It felt almost scripted that he hit a home-run in his first game back. It's been curtain call time for Ankiel ever since. Today, he hit two more dingers and made a fantastic catch in the outfield. Great story so far. I have a feeling the pitchers will eventually figure this guy out given that he has been hitting seriously for just 2 years. But I sure hope this feel-good tale continues forever. I would love for Ankiel to retire an outfielder after having a solid 10 year big league career with 200+ home runs!
In other regular baseball news, my Arizona DBacks are on fire. They have won 17 of 20 as they have opened a 4 game lead in the NL West. Brandon Webb is a stud. He is riding a continuos, scoreless 33-inning innings streak. The reigning Cy Young winner might win one more this year. This guy came up in 2003 and has been the main-man for the DBacks ever since. The DBacks are looking awesome right now. They are young, exciting and more importantly, completely home-grown. Webb was a DBacks draft pick and so are 5 of 8 position players and the 6-th, Chris Young, has not played for any other team but the DBacks though was drafted by the WhiteSox. They also locked up Eric Byrnes long term for 30 mill over 3 years. Great signing. I have always liked Byrnes ever since his days with my other favorite AL team, the A's. The DBacks also got Byung-Hyun Kim back for old time sake! I have a felling the rest of the season will be good for the snakes. The home-grown hitters are not setting the park on fire, but they do enough to win and they'll improve. In contrast, the Brewers are still winning on the strength of their young hitting. They can also get to the playoffs if their pitching holds up.
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