Former pitcher-turned-outfielder Rick Ankiel, who has been working toward a return to the mound, will be delayed in his effort after undergoing elbow surgery. As Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports, a procedure was performed to fix damage to Ankiel’s ulnar collateral ligament.
Since Ankiel avoided a full-blown UCL replacement, he won’t require a year-or-more rehabilitation timetable. Still, he’ll be sidelined for quite a while. Per Goold, the estimate is that he’ll be ready to go by the middle of the 2019 season.
Despite the setback, the 39-year-old will not give up on his effort to make yet another stirring comeback. Ankiel had been working out at the Cardinals’ spring facility and clearly has the full support of the organization. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak says that the club remains interested in discussing a contract when Ankiel is ready to resume his march back toward the majors.
nmendoza7
Kinda like when Mulder tried to comeback.
ray_derek
I’d blame Scully more than him though.
EndinStealth
At least you tried.
xabial
Rick pitched in the bluegrass World Series on August 2018. Struck out only batter he faced. He reached 89 on his fastball
mobile.twitter.com/Jevin_13/status/102484082253199… <— Video of strikeout.
Bluegrass World Series included many former MLB players. milb.com/documents/4/7/8/283902478/BWSRoster_updat… <— Check out the roster.
⚾The Heater from Van Meter⚾
Quite a few former Dodgers on that team. Jason Repko, haven’t heard that name in forever.
Slevin
Rick should get a chance in the bigs long before Tim Tebow.
Vedder80
He did get a chance in the bigs long before Tebow. In fact, Tebow was 12 when Rick got a chance in the bigs.
jbigz12
A 39 year old with an 89 mph fastball. I’m glad to see he made it back and can throw strikes again but neither him nor Tebow are major league caliber. Ankiel isn’t anymore. I hope he can do it because he’s a guy worth rooting for but obviously the odds are against him.
smith_matd
Something you’re missing is he was throwing 89 without any real training for years. With training that would be expected to increase some amount.
snotrocket
He should try to make it as a catcher.
Daver520
LMAO !!!!
c1234
Just another chapter of his story.
lesterdnightfly
There go Mo’s hopes to find a cheap lefty.
fasbal1
He will still be cheap, just unavailable
realgone2
Well so much for that
Yeti
Good for him. Why not? If you love the game and are otherwise bored without it, go for it. You regret things later in life if you felt you could still do something and didn’t! Eventually he won’t even be able to throw a 75 mph fastball. Go for it while you still can.
whiteroddy
Guy is a baller! Major league talent at multiple positions. Wish him the best of luck.
klkerr
Great comment on MO trying to find a cheap lefty. So true. Maybe with him getting hurt it helps our chances on signing Harper
CowboysoldierFTW
I dont think signing him to a mi ora contract would be the difference between getting or not getting Harper
bigkempin
Ankiel had a cannon
Codeeg
Cards season is already over.
(Sarcasm)
fasbal1
Somehow I feel like Matheny had something to do with this…
troll
no, it was larussa
silverbackjack
RIP comeback
juicemane
Hey Rick, maybe some more PEDs will help?
HubcapDiamondStarHalo
Why would you make such a shoddy comment?
EndinStealth
Because some people are worthless.
STLCards33
Any proof? Or is talking out of your ass a specialty?
juicemane
nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/rick-ankiel-receiv…
You’re on the internet stupid, google: “rick ankiel PEDs”
If Bonds, Clemens, McGwire cannot make the Hall but you guys want to defend this clown lololololol. true baseball fans here!
Why oh Why?!? People like me are trash…not people that have the power to find facts in a couple clicks but would rather ask someone on the internet message board for “proof”…yes, but I,m the crappy person! LOL, your wives must love you guys and your narratives.
#Fantasygeekland
Okay you were right and they weren’t… Get over it.
juicemane
I cant get over failure to look up information easily, over just typing nonsense cause it feels good…or should i say baaaa ba ba baaaa cause im talking to sheep