http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2049537
ST. LOUIS -- Rick Ankiel, the St. Louis Cardinals' pitcher turned outfield prospect, was activated by Double-A Springfield on Thursday after being sidelined by a back injury since the end of spring training.
Ankiel played a handful of games at extended spring training in the last week before the team cleared him for action. He was in the lineup for a home game Thursday night against Corpus Christi, going 1-for-4. In the fourth inning, he drove a Fernando Nieve curveball into center for a single but was stranded at third base.
Ankiel also struck out twice and grounded weakly to third base. Defensively, he caught a fly ball in the seventh.
"I swung at some bad pitches," Ankiel said. "It felt all right going out there."
Ankiel hopes that the media and fans will let him work on his game in Springfield.
If he wasn't in Springfield, Ankiel said, "you would probably be talking to the man who hit that walkoff" home run, referring to Tyler Minges, who came into the game in the eighth inning for Ankiel and homered in the ninth to win the game 2-1 for Springfield.
"Our manager will determine where to hit him and what he wants to do with him," Bruce Manno, director of player development, said before the game. "As long as he's healthy we're excited to get him in there."
The 25-year-old Ankiel, once one of the Cardinals' brightest prospects, decided to stop pitching in March on a day he had been scheduled to make a "B" game start, and devoted his efforts to making it back to the major leagues as an outfielder. He had been plagued by wildness and elbow surgery in 2003 before pitching for the Cardinals last September, his first appearance in the majors in more than three years.
Manno said the back injury likely was caused by Ankiel's position switch. He also was afflicted by blisters early in the conversion process.
"It was more muscular than anything," Manno said. "It flared up on him and we had to really back him off, and once he felt he could do some things and felt good, we started giving him more activity."
Ankiel was always considered a very good hitter for a pitcher, with a .207 career average and two homers, a double, a triple and nine RBI in 87 major league at-bats. After being demoted due to wildness in 2001 he impressed as a designated hitter for the Cardinals' rookie league team in Johnson City, Tenn., when he hit 10 home runs.
Ankiel signed a minor-league contract with the Cardinals earlier this month after clearing waivers. He has spent his entire career in the St. Louis organization after getting drafted in the second round out of high school in 1997.
His career was derailed in the 2000 playoffs when he threw nine wild pitches in four postseason innings.