Ankiel throws Cards a curve

JUPITER, Fla. -- Rick Ankiel couldn't find the plate, and now he won't take the mound.

The left-hander surprised the team Wednesday when he turned his back on a pitching career derailed by injuries and record wildness, saying he'll try to hit his way back to the major leagues as an outfielder.

"The frustration that built up, it seems like it was really eroding my spirit and starting to affect my personality off the field," Ankiel said. "It just became apparent that it was time for me to move on and pursue becoming an outfielder."

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa and general manager Walt Jocketty said they didn't try to persuade Ankiel to stick with pitching.

"Rick's gone through a lot of tough times," La Russa said. "He's been hurt twice and went through that wildness period, and he just wasn't getting the payback for going through all of that, evidently."

Ankiel, 25, had been scheduled to start in a "B" game Wednesday that was rained out. He had yet to appear in a spring training game.

Ankiel's problems began when La Russa made him the surprise Game 1 starter in the 2000 playoffs after sending Darryl Kile to meet with media the day before the game to lessen the pressure. In the postseason opener against the Braves, Ankiel became the first major league player since 1890 to throw five wild pitches in one inning, and he totaled nine wild pitches in four playoff innings.

The wildness reappeared in 2001, when he went 1-2 with a 7.13 ERA and 25 walks in 24 innings before getting demoted. He didn't make it back to the major leagues until last Sept. 7 after sitting out 2002 with a sprained left elbow and missing most of the 2003 and 2004 seasons following reconstructive elbow surgery.

St. Louis was encouraged by five late-season appearances, when he was 1-0 with a 5.40 ERA in 10 innings.

"I guess I was in shock," Jocketty said of Ankiel's decision. "I didn't see it coming. I'm not sure anyone else did. This guy had a chance to be a top pitcher."

Pitching coach Dave Duncan had no warning.

"I've been trying to get him ready to pitch," Duncan said. "I wish him the best of luck."

Teammates were shocked, too.

"It's a shame, all his talent, not that it's wasted because he's a great athlete and who knows what he can do," said pitcher Matt Morris, perhaps Ankiel's closest friend on the team. "But I hope one day he gets back to pitching."

Still, they understood.

"It can't be any more difficult going to the outfield than what he's been going through," center fielder Jim Edmonds said. "He's been through a lot."

Ankiel had been thinking of the switch since he left winter ball in Puerto Rico after feeling a twinge in his elbow. He was impressive in his first time throwing to hitters this spring, but the outings since then have been erratic.

"It just became apparent that it was time for me to move on and pursue becoming an outfielder," Ankiel said. "I feel relieved now, and I'm happy to move on."

During Ankiel's various comebacks, some suggested he could earn a spot in the major leagues with a bat instead of his arm.

"But not by me," Jocketty said. "I never gave up the hope that he would come back as a pitcher. That's what we drafted him and invested all the money in, as a pitcher."

Ankiel earned a $2.5 million bonus in 1997 when the Cardinals signed him out of high school, a pitcher blessed with a 95-mph fastball and a curveball so sharp that teammate Mark McGwire nicknamed it the "Snapdragon."

Ankiel made it to the major leagues at age 19 and was 11-7 with a 3.50 ERA with 194 strikeouts in 175 innings in 2000, helping the Cardinals win the National League Central.

"He's already got one positive mark in St. Louis Cardinals history, and that is without Rick we don't win in 2000," La Russa said. "There are a lot of people who would love to be able to have that one claim."

As a pitcher, he had a .207 average and two homers, a double, a triple and nine RBIs in 87 at-bats. He played some games at designated hitter for the Cardinals' rookie league team in Johnson City, Tenn., where he hit 10 homers in 2001.

"You're not going to able to walk into a big league camp and win a spot," La Russa said. "But he has talent, and I wouldn't put anything past him."

Joe McEwing of the New York Mets, who played with Ankiel in the Cardinals' organization in 1998 and 1999, had a bit advice.

"Just work," McEwing said. "It's going to take a lot of hard work and repetitions, but one thing about it is that he's a good athlete."

Ankiel is out of options and is likely to be sent outright to the minors.

"He's said he's not going to pitch," Jocketty said. "If somebody claims him to be a pitcher, it'll be a costly error."