but how far can he throw a softball

[tzg]

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-l ... 22346.html

The kid's got an incredible arm. Nobody ever thinks to run on him anymore.

[msr2112]

His story is really pretty amazing and it gets pretty much ignored. How often does a guy make it to the majors as a top pitcher. Lose it all. Then start over again in single A and make it all the way back as a hitter, and a pretty good one at that. He's had himself a 12 year career so far and it looked over 9 or 10 years ago. It takes some serious sack to go through all that.

[Protobuilder]

What is his Cindy time?

[TerryB]

What is his Cindy time?

How would I know?

[Mickey O'neil]

That is awesome. Both the throw and the comeback.

[Turdacious]

The crazy thing is that it wasn't a great throw by the Ankiel standard-- he wasn't set and had to take a couple of steps before he let it go.

Check out #2 here:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzMAYnJ0_NU[/youtube]

Classy guy too:

What you’re looking at is the lower half of page C7 of today’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch. During his first trip back to St. Louis as an opposing player, Ankiel thanked Cardinals fans with an advertisement in the city’s main newspaper.

“Many Thanks to Cardinals’ fans and the City of St. Louis for your support and cheers over the years,” the ad read, with a picture of Ankiel smiling. “It was a privilege and an honor.”

Ankiel spent 12 years in the Cardinals organization after they drafted him in 1997, just about all of them remarkable for different reasons. Through his stunning fall as a pitcher and dramatic rise as a power-hitting outfielder, Ankiel cherished the city’s fans’ consistently warm response.

“For years, they just supported me in everything that was going on,” Ankiel said. “Just throughout my career, is the easier way to put it. I just wanted to let them know that I appreciated the time that I was here.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/nat ... _blog.html

It sucks that the Nats only gave him a minor league contract after what he did for them last year. Glad to see him back though.

[baffled]

The kid who caught for my high school baseball team had an arm like that. They used to run backdoor pickoff plays to get runners at second when a kid looked like he was sleeping. Not sure if he ever got one, but just trying to make that throw is ridiculous.

Total headcase, last I heard he was just shy of 30 (like all of us are), still getting into fights and had a kid that he wasn't sure was his or not.

No Ankiel like comeback for him.

[Turdacious]

If you like defensive baseball, the Nats are a fun team to watch. Werth is great at grabbing shallow liners in right, and at picking off guys who stray too far from first. Zimmerman is the best defensive third baseman in the NL, and LaRoche is the best defensive first baseman in baseball. Ankiel merely makes the nearly impossible look routine.

[Turdacious]

Rick did the same thing again tonight, in addition to providing all of the Nats offense.