Lefthander Ankiel is a red-hot Cardinals prospect

By Gordon Edes, Globe Staff, 03/31/00

JUPITER, Fla. - For the man with the hubcap-size biceps, his livelihood depends in good measure on his ability to judge a pitcher. So when strongman Mark McGwire puts his seal of approval on 20-year-old lefthander Rick Ankiel, there should be little doubt that the St. Louis Cardinals have a special talent in camp.

"He has no fear,'' McGwire said of the rookie pitcher who made his big league debut last August, just over two years after graduating from high school in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

"He's good,'' McGwire said. "He doesn't throw anything straight. He's got pretty close to a Sandy Koufax breaking ball.''

It's a stunning comparison, given that Hall of Famer Koufax threw one of the best curveballs ever. But it is not atypical for Ankiel to be lavished with praise.

He is rated the top prospect in the game by Baseball America, which also selected him as its Minor League Player of the Year last season, one that Ankiel began in Double A Arkansas and finished under the Gateway Arch. His combined record in the Cardinals' system last season was 13-3 with a 2.35 ERA. He led St. Louis minor leaguers in wins, ERA, strikeouts (194), and strikeouts per nine innings (12.7).

"He's got a special arm,'' said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. "But one of the qualities that has impressed everybody is that ever since he came into pro ball he's had a lot of attention, but he just goes on the mound and competes. He puts as much pressure on himself as anybody else, and just competes. That's special. He has a lot of toughness.

"The second game he pitched for us was an ESPN Sunday night game against the Braves. He probably had the worst stuff and command he had in the whole last month with us, but he gave up just two runs in six innings. He never gave into it. He kept battling.''

Ankiel came into the Cardinals' camp, which is located a short drive from where he grew up, bidding to win a spot as the fifth starter. The Cardinals are so enamored of his potential that they traded 18-game winner Kent Bottenfield this spring for Anaheim center fielder Jim Edmonds.

"My dad taught me a lot when I was young,'' said Ankiel, who in his senior season in high school went 11-1 with an 0.47 ERA, and struck out 162 batters in 74 innings - better than two whiffs per inning.

The first time he pitched with scouts in attendance, he faced 15 batters and struck out 14 of them.

The family has pictures of father and son playing catch when Ankiel was 3, and his dad coached him throughout Little League.

It is perhaps another measure of Ankiel's toughness that at a time when he presumably would like to rely most on his father for support, Richard Patrick Ankiel, 42, is going to prison. Last September, barely a month after his son reached the big leagues, Richard Patrick Ankiel stood before a US magistrate in West Palm Beach, Fla., and pleaded innocent to federal charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana.

Prosecutors claimed that the elder Ankiel was part of a drug-smuggling operation led by Richard Barker, who earned the nickname "Captain Jump-Off'' for smuggling illegal immigrants and forcing them to swim to shore. The Palm Beach Post reported that Ankiel had been arrested 14 times in a 24-year period on charges that included burglary, carrying a concealed weapon, aggravated assault, fleeing police, and hit and run with an injury. He had at least six convictions.

In November, the elder Ankiel pleaded guilty to the drug charges, and earlier this month, while his son was fighting for a spot on the Cardinals, he was sentenced to five years in prison.

Days before his father's sentencing, Ankiel stood before his cubicle in the Cardinals' clubhouse and politely told two reporters he had nothing to say about his father's situation and its impact on his life.

"I'm not even going to talk about it right now,'' said Ankiel. "It's personal and that's where it's going to stay.''

Only grudgingly did Ankiel acknowledge that his father's situation has been difficult for him.

"You've got your personal life and you've got your business,'' he said. "You keep them separate.''

How hard was he finding it to do so? Ankiel, who could pass as a lifeguard with his bleached hair, deep tan, and strapping physique (6 feet 1 inch, 210 pounds), didn't blink.

"Why do people always look at it as hard to do at a young age?'' he said. "I'm a person, too. I can do that. I feel like I can. I hope I can.''

In Double A, he made eight starts and was essentially unhittable, going 6-0 with an 0.91 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 49 innings. He pitched 16 games for Triple A Memphis before his promotion to the big leagues, going 7-3 with a 3.16 ERA.

On Aug. 23, Ankiel pitched five innings for St. Louis in a no-decision against the Expos. Overall, he appeared in nine games, making five starts, and thought he had his first big league win on the last day of the season when he pitched the last inning of a rain-shortened game against the Cubs, only to learn that in a rain game, the starter doesn't have to go five innings to be credited with the win.

"It would have been a weak way to win,'' Ankiel said, "but I'll take one any way I can.''

Ankiel was the first pitcher to be designated Baseball America's Minor League Player of the Year since Tom Gordon, the injured Red Sox closer, burst onto the scene for the Kansas City Royals in 1988.

"He's got a chance to be something special,'' said former major league manager Jim Leyland, now a special assistant to Cardinals GM Walt Jocketty. "No question, he's got it all. He has a presence on the mound. He's got stuff, poise, confidence.

"He knows he's good. It's like with Doc Gooden. When you have stuff like that, it's easy to have presence. Confident players are good players.''

Funny that Leyland should mention Gooden, who broke into the majors when he was 19. Gooden was then a member of the New York Mets, who train in Ankiel's hometown.

"When I was little,'' Ankiel said, "Doc Gooden was right there. He was a young kid - 18, 19 years old - and just totally dominated.''

A couple of weeks ago, when the Cardinals met the Astros in an exhibition game, Ankiel pitched against his idol, and beat him, 2-1. He allowed just two hits in five scoreless innings. Houston manager Larry Dierker offered a comparison between Ankiel and the Doc of old.

"I would say that with Gooden there was a lot more swinging and missing,'' Dierker told reporters. "I'm not sure that with Doc, it was necessarily how hard he threw but just the life he had on his fastball. I would guess this guy [Ankiel] doesn't have that. But the only reason I say that is that nobody else ever really does.''

But Ankiel takes plenty to the mound.

"He has a live arm, a good fastball,'' said Cardinals backup catcher Mike Matheny. "He's sneaky. His delivery is so smooth, it doesn't look like he's throwing as hard as he is, but the ball gets up and in on guys. And he's got good off-speed stuff - curveball, changeup, slider. He mixes it up pretty good.

"I don't think he's been caught up in the hype. He knows he has the capability of being an outstanding pitcher. He has as much potential to be as good as he wants to be. He has a lot of talent. It's a matter of what he wants to do with it. He seems to be a hard worker.

"Put all those variables together, it's in his hands.''

And he's got Big Mac to back him up.