Astros designate Rick Ankiel for assignment
The Astros, sitting at 8-24 in last place in the AL West, have designated
outfielder Rick Ankiel for assignment, tweets Houston Chronicle beat writer
Brian T. Smith. It was one of a handful of moves the Astros made day, also
designating Fernando Martinez for assignment, calling up Jimmy Paredes and
Trevor Crowe, demoting Brandon Laird to Triple-A Oklahoma City, and
activating J.D. Martinez from the disabled list.
Though Ankiel had five home runs and a .731 OPS in 65 trips to the plate, he
was hitting .194 with a .231 on-base percentage, about as all or nothing as
you can get at the Major League level. In late April, Cliff Corcoran of
Sports Illustrated highlighted Ankiel’s “three true outcomes” approach:
In fact, it would be more accurate to describe Ankiel as a One True Outcome
player. Yes, he has five home runs, but he has just one walk. Rather 28 of
his 34 True Outcomes, a whopping 82 percent, have been strikeouts. Having
struck out in his only two official at-bats on Thursday night, Ankiel has now
struck out 28 times in 45 plate appearances, or 62 percent of the time he
steps into the batter’s box. Not only would that be a record for strikeout
percentage by a non-pitcher in a minimum of 45 plate appearances if the
season (or Ankiel’s involvement in it) ended today, it means that Ankiel is
striking out more often that Cust accomplished any of the Three True Outcomes
in the most extreme TTO season in major league history.
Updating those figures as of today, Ankiel has the five home runs, three
walks, and 35 strikeouts, representing 66 percent of his plate appearances.
The Astros have been outscored by 75 runs in 32 games, so the decision to DFA
Ankiel is quite understood.
It may be the 33-year-old’s last hurrah as he hasn’t shown any signs of
improvement and teams have little use for a player who can’t get on base at
least 30 percent of the time, particularly one that strikes out 12 times for
every one walk.
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