From Ace to Advocate: The Rick Ankiel Story

Imagine reaching the pinnacle of success—dominating in your first full season as a rookie, finishing second in Rookie of the Year voting, and earning the title of baseball’s next great pitcher.  You’re even trusted with the coveted Game 1 start in a playoff series. But when the moment arrives, everything unravels. You step onto the mound and suddenly forget how to pitch. What sounds like a surreal nightmare was the painful reality for Rick Ankiel.

Courtesy of Wikimediacommon.org

Rick Ankiel’s story is one of baseball’s most remarkable and enduring sagas—one that not only spotlighted the mysterious phenomenon of the yips but also reignited conversations about mental health in sports. His journey from a prodigious pitching talent to a shocking public collapse, and ultimately to an inspiring comeback as an outfielder, helped break the stigma surrounding performance anxiety and paved the way for today’s more open and honest dialogue about psychological struggles in athletics.

"Ankiel was a trailblazer for athletes speaking out about their struggles. For him to open up at a time when the stigma was even stronger—it took real courage," said Bruce Kuntz 2026, a pitcher at the University of California, Long Beach.

Until that day, pitching was all Rick Ankiel had ever known—and he was exceptional at it. Gifted with pinpoint control and a powerful arm, his talent was evident early on. He won a bronze medal at the 1996 18U World Junior Baseball Championship and dominated in high school with a staggering 0.47 ERA. Eventually, he rose through the ranks to become the top prospect in all of baseball. In his first full season in the majors, Ankiel pitched to a 3.50 ERA and struck out 194 batters in 175 innings while walking 90. So, how could someone with such extraordinary ability suddenly forget how to pitch when it mattered most?

"Leading up to his playoff start in 2000, there was a lot of buzz about Rick Ankiel—everyone was calling him the next big thing," said Ethan Kassel who has been following baseball since 1970

The first two innings of the 2000 NLDS went about as well as Rick Ankiel could have hoped, but when the third inning arrived, everything changed. In a stunning and sudden collapse, Ankiel lost all control, unknowingly becoming the face of what would later be known in baseball lore as “the yips.”

In the third inning, Rick Ankiel would lose all control and fire a record-setting five wild pitches. 

The game known as the "Yips game" in the 2000 NLDS.

“Here you have a guy on his way up, one of the most exciting young pitchers in baseball, go out there and can no longer do what he has shown himself capable of doing is one of the more astonishing things I've seen happen in a baseball game,” said Leif Skodnick Sports Journalist who’s work has appeared on Fox Sports Radio, ESPN Radio and Yahoo Sports Radio who has worked at various levels in baseball since 2002. 

After the game, Ankiel tried to lighten the mood, joking about setting a record. Many chalked it up to nerves—a young rookie simply getting a little too amped up under the playoff lights. But the problem didn’t go away; it only got worse. In his next start, he was pulled in the first inning after just 20 pitches—five of which sailed past the catcher as he lost control of a skill he had mastered his entire life.

Still holding onto hope, the Cardinals brought Ankiel out of the bullpen in Game 5. But the results were nearly identical. He faced just four batters, walked two, and threw two more wild pitches. On baseball’s biggest stage, a pitcher once known for his command could no longer find the strike zone.

His struggles continued in the minors, where the control he once took for granted never returned. Rick Ankiel had become only the second known player to suffer from what the baseball world now calls “the yips”—a sudden, inexplicable loss of ability in a game built on precision.

A quote from former MLB player Rick Ankiel in a 2017 article from NBC Sports

It’s common for young pitchers to struggle with control and be sent down to the minors to work out the kinks, eventually returning stronger. 

But Rick Ankiel never made it back to the majors as a pitcher. Instead, over the next three seasons, he reinvented himself entirely, trading the mound for the outfield. In 2007, seven years after his devastating collapse, Ankiel completed one of the most unlikely comebacks in baseball history by returning to the majors, not as a pitcher, but as an outfielder. While Rick Ankiel wasn’t the first player to struggle with the yips, he is known as the face of it. 

So, what exactly are the yips? The yips are defined as “a sudden and unexplained loss of ability to perform a skill that an athlete had previously mastered,” often driven by psychological factors such as anxiety or fear. The condition first gained national attention in the early 1970s when pitcher Steve Blass suddenly lost his ability to throw strikes, so much so that the phenomenon was initially dubbed "Steve Blass Disease."

For years, the yips carried a heavy stigma, dismissed as a mental weakness rather than a legitimate issue. However, modern sports psychology has redefined it. According to Dr. Paul Mitrani a licensed Psychologist at Child Mind Institute in New York City, “the yips are now recognized as a form of performance anxiety—a serious and treatable condition,” Today, the conversation around mental health in sports has grown, and more athletes are speaking openly about their struggles with the yips and related challenges, helping to shift the narrative from shame to support.  

In recent years, several high-profile MLB players have openly addressed their battles with mental health, including Drew Robinson,  with some even taking time away from the game to deal with anxiety—a shift that marks real progress in how these issues are viewed. But long before it became common to speak out, Rick Ankiel was living that struggle in silence. At a time when mental health in sports was largely ignored, Ankiel unknowingly became a trailblazer by putting the yips—and the psychological toll of performance anxiety—on the map.

"Drew Robinson's story truly inspired me. When it came out, I was going through a tough time myself. Hearing everything he endured—and knowing he's still here—gave me hope that I could make it through my own struggles," said Justin Lanza, former college baseball pitcher at Wheaton College.

Though his pitching career ended far too soon, Ankiel transformed his setback into something greater. He not only returned to the majors in a new position but has since used his platform to speak openly about his experiences with anxiety and mental health in professional sports. More than 25 years later, his story continues to resonate, reminding athletes that vulnerability is not weakness—and that with honesty and resilience, even the toughest moments can be turned into a powerful legacy.