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| Wednesday, February 28 | |||||
| Ankiel pitches to batters at Cardinals camp | |||||
JUPITER, Fla. – Rick Ankiel took another step in his
comeback from his wild appearances in last season's National League
playoffs.
Ankiel, working out again away from the media, threw batting
practice on Tuesday. The accounts of the workout, from those who
were there, were positive.
"He was fantastic," said minor-league catcher Matt Garrick,
one of two batters Ankiel faced. "I think 90 percent of them were
strikes."
Ankiel threw 50 pitches during the session, half to Garrick and
fellow minor leaguer David Benham. Pitching coach Dave Duncan
described Ankiel's pitching as "wonderful."
It wasn't a feeling shared by Ankiel, who claimed his "changeup
needs a little work."
Nonsense, manager Tony La Russa said. "He said he was OK and
everybody else said he was outstanding. I wouldn't hire him as a
scout. He was better than OK."
Ankiel's next step remains unclear. He's not among the pitchers
scheduled to start the Cardinals' first five exhibition games.
"I don't pay attention to that," Ankiel said. "I just pay
attention to myself."
Duncan said he is happy with Ankiel's pitching so far this
spring, and that decisions about what the 21-year-old does on the
practice field are being made based on how his arm feels.
"There's no book written on this," Duncan said. "The main
thing you do is stay in touch and see how it's going. I'm more
concerned about paying attention to the arm. Just because you want
to get things accomplished, you still have to gear it all around
the arm."
Duncan said he has no doubt that Ankiel will overcome his
control problems.
Ankiel, for his part, is not especially concerned about how he
is pitching now.
"It really doesn't matter how I am – throwing good or bad,"
Ankiel said. "It's not the season. It's spring training."
 Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories | AUDIO/VIDEO  St. Louis manager Tony LaRussa on Rick Ankiel's control woes.wav: 335 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6 | ||||