Rick Ankiel's Crazy Swing For The Fences

Joe Posnanski:

In the end, the scouts were probably right about Rick Ankiel. He doesn’t really make enough contact to be of much value as a hitter in the Major Leagues. But that doesn’t diminish the awesomeness of his achievement. After the Cardinals gave up on him, the Kansas City Royals acquired him. After the Royals, it was Atlanta for a while. Then Washington. Now, Ankiel is in Houston. And while his career on-base percentage may be .305, he has hit 74 big league homers, and he has had more than 2,000 big league plate appearances, and it’s an inspiring story of a man who had it all, had it all taken in mysterious ways, and somehow found his way back.
Then there’s this year. This epic year. Rick Ankiel has become perhaps my favorite hitter to watch in baseball. This year, Rick Ankiel has decided to do what a friend of mine calls “The Full Rob Deer.” You will remember Deer as a guy who swung for the fences, who hit 25-plus homers five times and who led the league in strikeouts four times. And while there have been many other players who have swung for the fences, I would say that none of them have done it with the relish, the persistence or the sheer chutzpah of Rick Ankiel.
We are talking every ... single ... at-bat.
Look at his amazing numbers.
Ankiel has come to plate 38 times this year.
He has struck out 24 of those times. Yeah. Twenty-four of 38.
He has walked zero of those times.
He has hit five home runs and two doubles and two singles.
Yes, of course, we’re talking a tiny sample size. But he’s slugging .684. And as MLB.com’s Matthew Leach, among others, have pointed out, Rick Ankiel has stopped at first base two times all year.
It’s utterly astonishing. You can get ridiculous playing the “on-pace” game, but how can you not do the math for Ankiel? If he could maintain this pace for 600 plate appearances, he would hit 79 home runs, and he would strike out 379 times. He would walk, if my math’s correct here, zero times.

That is utterly unbelievable.  24 of 38 at bats are strikeouts?  Wow.  Ankiel's comeback from completely losing control on the mound is amazing.  This last hurrah is amazing also.