The 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m), 170 lb (77 kg) Pankovits was selected by the Astros in the fourth round of the 1976 Major League Baseball Draft from the University of South Carolina.

His best season came in 1986 as a member of the National League West Division champion Astros, when he hit .283 in 70 games as the primary back up to Bill Doran.

He returned to the Astro organization in 1995, serving through 2010 as a minor league manager at the Class A, Short Season-A and Double-A levels, and as a roving infield instructor.

After three seasons (2011–13) as Jackson's pilot, Pankovits assumed a position with the Mariners in 2014 as a roving minor league infield instructor.

The brain child of then-general manager Tim Purpura, PANKOVITS is an acronym for Player Analysis with Neutral Knowledge of Offensively Vital Information Tracking Statistics.