From Dairy Farm To Pirates Draft Pick, Meet Jack ‘The Milk Man’ Anker

Before the fourth round of the MLB Draft started on Monday, Jack Anker did what most draft prospects do. He woke up and went to work.

Anker, a right-handed pitcher from Fresno State, wasn’t lifting weights or throwing a bullpen session. He was watering roads to keep dust off the corn fields on his family’s dairy farm. Outside of his time at college, Anker has lived on the farm his entire life, and explained that if the corn gets too dusty, dust mites will ravage the crops, which are needed to feed the cows.

After work, he had breakfast with his family, and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the sixth round not long after that.

Living on a dairy farm, Anker didn’t have a typical childhood. He worked. When he wasn’t working, it was all baseball all the time.

“I didn’t have the most normal childhood in the sense that if I wasn’t working or in school, I was playing baseball,” Anker said. “I worked a lot. It was the only thing I could do. I lived in the middle of nowhere. There was no going to a friend’s house on a weekend or hanging out after school because we lived so far away from everyone. Baseball was the only thing that I had. Whether it be throwing a tennis ball against a milk barn wall, or playing catch with my brother.”

When he wasn’t playing baseball, he was watching baseball. He grew up watching the Los Angeles Dodgers, and joked about how it took over his house.

“I grew up a Dodgers fan. We would watch, I’m not kidding you, every night. I feel bad for my poor mom and sisters. Me and my dad and brother would talk baseball for three hours after dinner, and those poor girls would have to sit there and listen. I’m pretty confident that my sisters are more baseball smart than the average fan.”

Anker felt lucky to make it to college baseball at all, let alone be drafted by an MLB team. He didn’t get to play travel baseball or go to showcase tournaments because he had to work on the farm in the summer. A Boston Red Sox area scout watched him throw a bullpen session as a sophomore and put him in contact with Fresno State, who eventually offered him a scholarship. In college, he earned the nickname “The Milk Man” for obvious reasons.

Over three years at Fresno State, Anker started to hone his craft. His strikeout rate rose from 17.8% his freshman year to 21.5% the next. Junior year, he struck out 24.3% of the hitters he faced and finished 27th in Division I in strikeouts. He’s a strike-thrower as well. The righty only walked 12 hitters across 120 1/3 innings this season. Always thinking about the next step, he’s ready to hit the ground running in pro ball.

“Development-wise, I’m really excited to get started with the Pirates. I feel like I have the hard part down, the pitching side of things, I have down. I’m excited to develop physically, go get some stuff.”

Anker mentioned adding velocity as a place for improvement. The righty wants to sit closer to 94-96 mph as opposed to the 91-92 mph he currently throws. He also wants to add a slider to have a true strikeout pitch against righties. He’s tinkered with one during his time at Fresno, but never found a grip or release that quite worked for him. Anker self-admittedly isn’t a tech-savvy person – he struggled to get the Zoom window back up after receiving a phone call – but he’s excited to get his hands on the insights that Trackman data and edgertronic cameras provide.

In terms of intangibles, Anker oozes toughness. He didn’t want to use the word “hurt” to describe his sophomore season, and later admitted he was sidelined with a shoulder impingement. Anker isn’t unassuming physically; he’s six-foot-two, 200 pounds. Everything else about him is, though. He played golf with five clubs in his bag before he snapped his driver on the driving range, and his brother lost two of the clubs. He enjoys fishing and shooting. Even when describing his strengths, he focused on the indefinable side of the game.

“I’m really competitive. I hate to lose. I absolutely hate it,” Anker said. “I also think I’m pretty mentally tough, and there’s nothing flashy about it. It doesn’t show up on the stat sheet. It doesn’t look cool or get publicity, but I think it’s gonna get me where I need to be.”

Anker’s road to professional baseball isn’t your typical story. He’s taken the few opportunities he’s been given and run with them, and is ready for the next challenge. When asked if he had a message for Pirates fans, he was quick to answer.

“Tell Pirates fans that they’re getting a worker.”

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