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Rabe likely with Red Wings for fifth year

But the talented outfielder has a good attitude and other options

Jim Mandelaro
Staff writer

(March 24, 2007) FORT MYERS, Fla. Watch out, Mayor Duffy. You could have a young challenger gunning for your job.

"I'm running for Rochester mayor, on the Republican ticket,'' outfielder Josh Rabe announced Friday, sitting on a stool in front of his locker at Hammond Stadium.

He was joking, but Rabe might want to consider buying instead of renting if he returns to Rochester.

Unless he makes the Minnesota Twins out of spring training, Rabe will be headed back to the Flower City for a fifth consecutive season.

"I'm just a senior,'' jokes catcher Chris Heintz, who will return for a fourth year with the Red Wings. "Rabe's a fifth-year senior.''

It's not for lack of talent or character. Rabe is a career .277 hitter in seven minor-league seasons, and he hit .286 in 24 games with the Twins last year. He's also a great clubhouse guy and one of the smarter players in the game, an aspiring lawyer who still keeps his LSAT book in the back seat of his truck.

"I pull it out whenever I have an oh-fer (0-for-4),'' he said. "Kind of a pessimistic view, I guess.''

The last player to spend five consecutive seasons in Rochester was Floyd Rayford. "Sugar Bear" was here from 1980-84, took a break in 1985 and spent the season with the Baltimore Orioles, then returned to the Red Wings in 1986 and '87 before retiring.

"He's been giving me pointers (on life in Rochester),'' Rabe said of Rayford, now a coach with the Twins' Double-A team in New Britain, Conn. "Hopefully it won't come to that, but I'm on his coattails.''

A foot injury limited Rabe to 38 games with the Wings in 2003, which was also Minnesota's first year as Rochester's parent club. He played 122, 90 and 93 the next three seasons.

Last year was by far his best. Rabe started in the Triple-A All-Star Game in July, and a few days later he was called up to the Twins. It was a surprise move, given that Rabe wasn't even on the Twins' 40-man roster, meaning they had to purchase his contract and add him to their team.

It was his first big-league promotion, but shock and awe gave way to simple relief.

"It was tough waiting for so long,'' said Rabe, who was hitting .297 at the time "All I kept thinking was, 'Finally. I didn't waste six years playing in the minors.'''

Wings manager Stan Cliburn called it "one of the great moments in my managerial career.''

Less than six weeks later, Rabe was sent back to Triple-A with the knowledge that he would rejoin the Twins when rosters expanded to 40 on Sept. 1. Rabe had hit .311 in 19 games with the surging Twins but was the odd man out when veteran outfielder Rondell White was activated.

Major-league rules dictate that a player demoted to the minors has 72 hours to report. Although admittedly "frustrated" by the move, Rabe was on the first plane to Rochester and arrived at the Frontier Field clubhouse at 1 p.m. the next day.

"Stan saw me and said, 'What are you doing here?''' Rabe recalled. "I said 'Pencil me in. I'm here to play.'''

That night, he went 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBI as Rochester beat the Ottawa Lynx.

Rabe rejoined the Twins for the final month, but a back injury ended his season a few days early. He thought it had healed, but the injury flared up again when he made his annual pilgrimage to Venezuela for winter ball.

The Twins also took him off the 40-man roster and outrighted him to Rochester in December, though he was invited to spring training and has hit .281 in 18 games.

He has been in Fort Myers since Dec. 26, working out.

Rabe is an only child. His parents, Dennis and Debbie, taught him the value of hard work on their corn and soybean farm in Mendon, Ill.

"They raised me to always have options,'' he said.

He is 16 hours shy of receiving his bachelor's degree in political science (with an emphasis on pre-law) from Quincy (Ill.) University. Ideally, he would love to be a graduate assistant at a college where he could receive free tuition while helping to coach the baseball team.

"I'd love to work with kids 18 to 22, where you can really mold them,'' said Rabe, the Twins' 11th-round pick in the 2000 draft.

If he never plays another game in the big leagues, Rabe will feel a sense of satisfaction for knowing he made it. He's playing with house money now.

"From where I come from, I shouldn't have even been drafted,'' he said. "Major league players don't come from Mendon, Illinois.

"Brett Favre said it best: 'I just want to play one game in the NFL and everything else is icing on the cake.'

"I've kind of taken that approach. I got to the big leagues and got a hit. Now I've got to find out how to stay.''

JMAND@DemocratandChronicle.com