Former St. Louis Cardinals ace Rick Ankiel could make a return to the mound at 39 years old.
Many have forgotten the brilliant, albeit short, career of Rick Ankiel on the pitcher’s mound for the St. Louis Cardinals. Most remember him for his breakdown in the playoffs for the 2000 St. Louis Cardinals.
Rick Ankiel was originally a 2nd round draft pick by the St. Louis Cardinals out of high school. He made it to the majors two years later as one of the top prospects in baseball in 1999. In 2000, he was dynamic, making 30 starts, throwing 175 innings, finishing with an 11-7 record, 3.50 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, and 90/194 BB/K ratio.
It was what happened in the playoffs that season that changed Ankiel’s life:
In the playoffs that season, he would toss just 4 innings total, but the numbers were incredible. He allowed 7 runs on 5 hits and 11 walks. He also had 9 wild pitches.
Ankiel tried to get back on the mound the next two years, but he simply could not throw strikes. He went back to the minor leagues and remade himself as an outfielder. He made it back to the St. Louis Cardinals in 2007 as an outfielder, hitting 11 home runs in just 47 games.
Ankiel would go on to play 7 seasons as an outfielder, known for his power bat and (unsurprisingly) power arm in the outfield, considered one of the best defensive bench outfielders in the major leagues while he was playing. He finished his career with 76 home runs in just 651 games.
Now after playing with Adam LaRoche and Andy LaRoche‘s team in the Bluegrass World Series, where he was used both as an outfielder and a pitcher, Ankiel is toying with the idea of a comeback on the mound.
With his fastball reaching just 89 MPH at this point, he’ll have work to do to get back to the major leagues as a pitcher, but if he can reclaim part of that pitcher that was so tantalizing in his time on the mound for the St. Louis Cardinals, that would put a great finale on his baseball story!