Rick Ankiel used to be a pitcher until he had a mental breakdown in the 2001 playoffs and was completely done with pitching by the time he was 25-years-old. Sad story. But despite no longer being a hard-throwing lefty from the bump, Ankiel still has one of the best, most accurate and fun arms to watch in baseball from the grass in the outfield.
He showed it off on Monday night against the Houston Astros and it’ll make your jaw drop:
When the fastest Astro, Jordan Schafer, doesn’t want to mess around and tag on a fly that probably should’ve been deep enough for a sac, you know you’re dealing with a respected arm in center field. They don’t show it in the video, but after Ankiel’s throw nearly goes through Wilson Ramos’ chest, I’m sure Schafer turned around to his third base coach and said, “holy shit, boy am I glad I stayed here.”
