Richard Alexander Ankiel (; born July 19, 1979) is an American former professional baseball center fielder and pitcher. He spent most of his Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the St. Louis Cardinals, but also played for the Kansas City Royals, Atlanta Braves, Washington Nationals, Houston Astros, and New York Mets.
Ankiel was a pitcher with the Cardinals from 1999 until 2001 when he found himself unable to throw strikes consistently. After trying to regain his pitching form in the minor leagues and briefly returning to the majors in 2004, he switched to the outfield in early 2005. For two and a half years, he honed his skills as a hitter and fielder in the Cardinals' minor-league system. He returned to the Cardinals on August 9, 2007. As a Cardinal until 2009, Ankiel hit 47 home runs as an outfielder and two as a pitcher. After the 2009 season, Ankiel became a free agent. Subsequently, he was signed by the Royals and later was traded to the Braves. Ankiel became the first player after Babe Ruth to win at least 10 games as a pitcher and also hit at least 70 home runs. Ankiel is also the only player other than Ruth and Shohei Ohtani to both start a postseason game as a pitcher and hit a home run in the postseason as a position player.
Writing for Deadspin, journalist Barry Petchesky suggested that Ankiel's change of position, and the fact that he played for six teams in a five-season span, represented "one of the stranger careers in baseball history."
Ankiel was born to Denise and Richard Ankiel Sr. His father worked various odd jobs, was arrested 14 times and convicted 6 times by the time Ankiel was an adult. He described his father as very tough on him, making him run wind sprints if he swung at bad pitches in Little League.
Ankiel attended Port St. Lucie High School in Florida, where he went 11–1 with a 0.47 earned run average (ERA) during his senior season, striking out 162 batters in 74 innings pitched, and was named the High School Player of the Year by USA Today in 1997.
The St. Louis Cardinals selected Ankiel in the second round of the 1997 Major League Baseball draft. He received a $2.5 million signing bonus. In 1998, he was voted the best pitching prospect in both the Carolina and Midwest League, and was the Carolina League's All-Star starting pitcher, Baseball America's first-team Minor League All-Star starting pitcher, and the Cardinals' Minor League Player of the Year. That year, he led all minor league pitchers in strikeouts with 222.
In 1999, Ankiel was named the Minor League Player of the Year by both Baseball America and USA Today. He was also Texas League All-Star pitcher, Double-A All-Star starting pitcher, Cardinals Minor League Player of the Year, and Baseball America First Team Minor League All-Star starting pitcher.
Ankiel debuted in 1999 in Montreal against the Expos. He pitched his first full season in 2000 at the age of 20 (second youngest player in the league), posting an 11–7 record, a 3.50 ERA (tenth in the league), and 194 strikeouts (seventh in the league) in 30 games started. Ankiel threw a 94- to 97-mph fastball, a heavy sinker, and a fall-off-the-table curveball that was his main strikeout pitch. He struck out batters at a rate of 9.98 strikeouts per nine innings (second in the National League only to Randy Johnson), and allowed only 7.05 hits per nine innings (second only to Chan Ho Park). He came in second (to the Atlanta Braves' Rafael Furcal) in the NL Rookie of the Year voting. He received The Sporting News Rookie Pitcher of the Year Award.
The Cardinals won the National League Central Division championship in 2000. Injuries to other pitchers left Ankiel and Darryl Kile as the only fully healthy starters left on the roster. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa chose Ankiel to start game one of the National League Division Series against veteran pitcher Greg Maddux of the Braves. To shield Ankiel from media pressure, La Russa had Kile answer questions to the media as if to start game one, and afterwards informed the media that Ankiel was starting.
In game one, Ankiel did not allow a run through the first two innings. His performance suddenly deteriorated in the third. He allowed four runs on two hits, four walks and throwing five wild pitches before being removed with two outs. Despite Ankiel facing eight batters and throwing 35 pitches, the Cardinals won the game. Ankiel shrugged off the event, joking that he set a record for wild pitches. He was the first pitcher to throw five wild pitches in an inning since Bert Cunningham of the Players' League in 1890. Ankiel set the record for wild pitches in a postseason career and postseason inning.
In his next start, game two of the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets, Ankiel was removed in the first inning after throwing 33 pitches, five of which went past catcher Eli Marrero (only two were official wild pitches, as no runners were on base for the others), and the first of which sailed over the head of Mets' hitter Timo Perez. Ankiel appeared again in the seventh inning of game five facing four hitters, walking two and throwing two more wild pitches. The Cardinals lost the series four games to one to the Mets.
The source of Ankiel's problems were unknown, but speculated to be psychological. His father had been sent to federal prison, and his parents were divorced during the 2000 season. His loss of control, often called the yips, has been compared to pitcher Steve Blass, renowned as having pinpoint control until he too became unable to consistently throw strikes for unknown reasons. A section of a book about Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, Three Nights in August, details Ankiel's rise to the big leagues and loss of control as a pitcher in 2000–2001. La Russa has stated that putting Ankiel into Game 1 of the 2000 NLDS was "a decision that perhaps haunts him more than any he has ever made."
Ankiel returned to the majors in 2001 but again had issues controlling his pitches, walking 25 batters and throwing five wild pitches in 24 innings, and was sent down to Triple-A. His problems in the minors became dramatic. In 4+1⁄3 innings at the Triple-A level, Ankiel walked 17 batters and threw 12 wild pitches, accumulating a 20.77 ERA. He was demoted all the way down to the Rookie League Johnson City Cardinals, where he was successful as both a starting pitcher, with a 1.33 ERA in 14 starts, and a designated hitter, sporting a .638 slugging percentage with 10 home runs and 35 RBIs in 118 plate appearances. He was voted Rookie Level Player of the Year, Appalachian League All-Star left-handed pitcher, Rookie League All-Star starting pitcher, Appalachian League Pitcher of the Year, and Appalachian League All-Star designated hitter.
In 2002, Ankiel sat out the season due to a left elbow sprain, and was not cleared to throw until December. He returned to the minors in 2003, posting a 6.29 ERA in 10 starts before undergoing season-ending ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction (Tommy John surgery) for his left elbow in July. In 54+1⁄3 innings, he walked 49 batters and threw 10 wild pitches.
Ankiel returned to the majors in September 2004, posting a 5.40 ERA in five relief appearances. Ankiel's control problems appeared to be gone, as he walked just one while striking out nine in ten innings. In the minors, he walked only two batters in 23+2⁄3 innings, while striking out 23. He pitched in the winter Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League, where he felt a "twinge" in his pitching elbow.
Switch to the outfield and knee injury (2005–2006)
On March 9, 2005, Ankiel announced that he was switching to the outfield, after a spring training scrimmage in which he threw only three strikes out of 23 pitches. In the minors in 2005, he continued to be a powerful batter, slugging over .500 in both Single-A and Double-A, with a combined 21 home runs in 55 games. He had a strong arm in the outfield as well, with nine outfield assists.
In 2006, Ankiel was invited to spring training by the Cardinals as an outfielder, with a slim chance to make the team as a reserve player. His fielding impressed scouts and managers, and he had shown flashes of power hitting in the minors. However, he injured his left knee in February and had season-ending surgery on May 26.