Ankiel likely done for rest of season

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Rick Ankiel, who has thrown only 24 innings in the major leagues since his record wildness in the 2000 playoffs, will not throw again for at least eight more weeks.

The left-hander has tendinitis in his left elbow, which has plagued him since spring training.

"He's going to rest for the next eight weeks, and at that time we'll re-evaluate him and put his pitching plan together then," Cardinals trainer Barry Weinberg said Monday. "You don't predict or hypothesize on anything. You just take what it is. Right now he's in a resting mode."

Ankiel, who turns 23 on Friday, last pitched for St. Louis in May 2001 before getting sent to the minors. In his only spring training start for the Cardinals, on March 3, he left after two innings because of tendinitis, and he was placed on the disabled list on March 28.

An unclear future

"You'd need a crystal ball to answer stuff like that," manager Tony La Russa said Monday when asked if Ankiel will pitch for the Cardinals this season. "We're just hoping for the best. We're going to be really careful with him. It's something you take seriously and go step by step. But he's young, and at some point, it'll all work out."

Ankiel was examined last Wednesday by Dr. James Andrews, whose finding was consistent with the opinion of Cardinals orthopedist Dr. George Paletta, who diagnosed Ankiel with a strained flexor tendon near his left elbow.

Ankiel was encouraged by agent Scott Boras to get the second opinion from Andrews.

"It's always helpful to have prominent doctors who have seen thousand of elbows look at it," Boras said Monday. "I mean, the doctor for St. Louis did diagnose the problem correctly, but the extent and the nature of the problem was just furthered by Dr. Andrews' opinion. Everybody agreed that he should be shut down."

Boras was told that Ankiel has a separation between his ligament and his elbow, which would take about 90-100 days to grow back together. The second exam determined that the ligament hadn't snapped.

"He was a little discouraged that he wasn't able to throw," said Cardinals catcher Mike Matheny, who spoke with Ankiel about two weeks ago. "It's just another bit of adversity he's going to have to overcome, but I think it's impossible to put a limit on how good he can be and how good he's going to be."

Ankiel was considered one of the most promising young pitchers in baseball two seasons ago as a 21-year-old rookie before he faced Atlanta in Game 1 of the NL division series. He threw a five wild pitches past beleaguered catcher Carlos Hernandez in the third inning, making him the first pitcher to throw five wild pitches during one inning of a major league game.

He made four more wild pitches against the Mets in the NL championship series.

"He's still growing and maturing," Matheny said. "I'm sure he'd like to have been able to get out there and throw, but you can't control stuff like that. He's been very disciplined and he's staying on top of his work. It's hard to watch this happen to him, but he's still young."