Royals sign Rick Ankiel to one-year deal

Posted on January 22, 2010

Rick Ankiel of the St. Louis Cardinals takes batting practice before the game against the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California on April 13, 2008. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

 

The Kansas City Royals are taking a chance on a guy who is trying to rebuild his career by signing free agent outfielder Rick Ankiel to a one-year contract worth $3.25 million. The 30-year-old Ankiel can play all three outfield positions and will be joining Scott Podsednik and David DeJesus in the Royals outfield. Ankiel is coming off an injury-plagued season with the Cardinals in which he had to endure a sore Achilles tendon, a deep shoulder bruise, and a groin strain. He will be looking to improve on his .231 batting average and 38 RBIs that he had in St. Louis.

Most baseball fans will remember that Ankiel came up through the Cardinals organization as a 19-year-old pitcher in 1999 with tons of promise. He went 11-7 in 2000 and came in second place in the Rookie of the Year Award balloting. However, it was during that year’s playoffs against the Braves that he suddenly found himself unable to throw strikes. In the third inning he walked four batters and threw five wild pitches. The wheels of his pitching career came off after that night. After a long stint in the minors due to his control problems and injuries Ankiel decided that his only way back to the big leagues would be as an outfielder.

Ankiel finally made it back to the Cardinals in 2007 and immediately impressed everyone with his hitting and amazing defensive play in the outfield. His golden left arm that made him such a promising young pitcher allowed him to gun down many runners on the base paths. His strong throws from the outfield to nail runners at third base became common place on the nightly highlights on SportsCenter.He put together his best offensive season in St. Louis in 2008 when he hit .264 with 25 homes and 71 RBIs.

There is no doubt that Ankiel has tons of talent, but he needs to stay healthy to help the Royals in 2010. I have always enjoyed photographing Ankiel, all the way back to the first time I shot him in one of his last pitching appearances against the Dodgers in Los Angeles (see above). He plays with a lot of emotion and is always making great plays in the field. I look forward to shooting him in the blue and white this spring in Arizona, along with some of the other new Royals.