Ankiel is a Great Story, But Does he Have Fantasy Value?

August 13, 2007 @ 16:00:00

By David Wysocki
Edited by Ryan Dodson

It was the stuff movies are made out of. When the slugging lefty mashed the 2-1 pitch effortlessly into the St. Louis night you had to rub your eyes and make sure it wasn't Roy Hobbs from "The Natural." On this night, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher-turned-outfielder Rick Ankiel gave us all something to cheer for.

Ankiel, 28, broke into the big leagues in 1999 at the age of 20. He was one of those "can't miss" prospects. He possessed a fireball of a fastball and a devastating, knee-buckling curve. In his first full season in 2000, he didn't let down winning 11 games posting a 3.50 ERA. He sat down 194, most of which went down swinging like an old rusty gate. "Yup. Ankiel. Remember that name," most of us said. That is until the playoffs where Ankiel seemed to implode the way of former Atlanta Braves closer Mark Wohlers and New York Yankees second baseman Chuck Knoblauch on national television. Ankiel suddenly couldn't hit the strike zone. It couldn't have happened to a better guy. 

After a decent attempt at a comeback in 2004, Ankiel once again fell victim to the demons of Steve Blass-past when throwing a simulated game. He later went on to have Tommy John surgery. He returned in spring training of 2005 and struggled to find the strike zone again. He decided it was time to retire the rosin bag and the leg kick. Ankiel would now try and re-invent himself as Rick Ankiel the slugging outfielder.

Slowly but surely, the former second-round draft pick found himself working his way through the minor league system. By the beginning of 2007 he was playing in Triple-A Memphis of the Pacific Coast League. He went on to lead the PCL in homers with 32 when Cardinals infielder Scott Spiezio left the club for an ongoing substance abuse problem. Ankiel had made his way back into the major leagues.

In his first game back, Ankiel mashed a three-run homer off of San Diego Padres reliever Doug Brocail, who has quite a comeback story of his own.

Table: Ankiel's 2007 Statistics at Triple-A Memphis

AB	R	H	HR	RBI	SB	TB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG
389	62	104	32	89	4	221	90	.267	.314	.568

Ankiel has some very stoutly minor league numbers. In 2001, in his first re-claimation project, Ankiel acted as the DH for his rookie-ball club in John's City. He ended up hitting 10 home runs in just 105 at-bats. In 867 at-bats in his minor league career, Ankiel has racked up 67 home runs and brags a .547 slugging percentage.

Thus far Ankiel has hit three home runs and driven in six in just 12 major league at-bats in 2007. He has been hot out of the gate. But as touching as the story is, the 2007 season doesn't seem to be the year Ankiel will "break out." Not only is manager Tony La Russa notorious for mixing lineups and playing guys, especially young ones, inconsistently, but his position is currently occupied by outfielder Chris Duncan, whom is having a very solid season. The other two outfield spots also have no vacancy with Jim Edmonds and Juan Encarnacion. Add in So Taguchi and there's a crowd. Ankiel's miniscule .314 OBP at Memphis doesn't bode well for predicting his fortunes or longevity at the next level either.

However, Encarnacion called La Russa's actions of benching him due to a sore leg unprofessional. There's a possibility the team could dump the disgruntled outfielder, which would open a starting job for Ankiel. He's still owed a lot of money in the second year of his three-year, $15 million contract, and the Cards aren't a team that eats contracts.

Duncan is one of the La Russa guys that has suffered the odd and often unpredictable matchup games La Russa plays. Despite a 2006 performance that witnessed Duncan mashing 22 home runs in 280 at-bats and posting a .293 clip, Duncan has played sporadically in 2007. His virtual matching of those numbers this season still apparently doesn't warrant him consistent time. Fantasy owners of Duncan have suffered probably even more than Duncan himself in 2007 for this reason.

Ankiel is a phenomenal story and great one for baseball, but don't expect him to spend the rest of the 2007 season like another former Cardinals pitcher-turned-outfielder, Stan Musial. There's a lot of media attention out there on Ankiel, but he should be treated like any other rookie. When you factor in his playing time possibilities his value drops again.

If you need an outfielder, look no further than Arizona Diamondbacks five-tool rookie Justin Upton, who has been hitting very well since being called up and projects better.

Godspeed to Ankiel, but for your purposes, just let him be and consider him as a possible late-round pickup for 2008 if he continues to produce when given a shot.

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David Wysocki

David has been a KFFL writer since 2005. He is a San Diego native and a History and Geography student at California State University-Chico. He has a writing background and has appeared in, and helped produce, various local newsletters and magazines on sports and music. He also pitched for the No. 2 nationally ranked Rancho Buena Vista Longhorns his senior year of high school in 2002.

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