Jump to: player bio | view more cards | tour stops | view random player

mike rabelo, 2007 topps #294, tigers

Player: Rabelo, Mike

Card: 2007 Topps #294

Position: C

<- Previous | Home | Next ->

playerbio

Michael Gregory Rabelo (born January 17, 1980 in New Port Richey, FL) is a former Major League Baseball catcher. Following his senior year of high school in 1998, Rabelo was drafted in the 13th round of the Major League Baseball amateur draft by the Boston Red Sox. He did not sign, however, instead choosing to play collegiate baseball for the University of Tampa Spartans. Following his junior season of college, the Detroit Tigers signed Rabelo after selecting him in the 4th round of the 2001 MLB Draft.

Mike began his career with the Single-A Oneonta Tigers of the New York–Penn League, where he was named an all-star catcher. During his time in the minors, he developed a reputation as a personal catcher for pitcher Joel Zumaya. He was added to the Tigers 40-man roster in September 2006, and made his debut the same month.

Rabelo began the 2007 season on the 25-man active roster, and generally played well, maintaining a batting average that surpassed his minor league average of .263. He hit his first major league home run on September 30, 2007, the last game of the season off Mike MacDougal of the Chicago White Sox.

On December 5, 2007, the Tigers traded Rabelo, Andrew Miller, Cameron Maybin, Dallas Trahern, Eulogio De La Cruz and Burke Badenhop to the Florida Marlins for Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera. In November 2009, he was granted free agency by the Florida Marlins.

After his playing career ended, Mike was the hitting coach for the Gulf Coast League Tigers and the Short season A Connecticut Tigers. He was hired as manager of the Connecticut Tigers for the 2014 season. On October 20, 2016, he was promoted to the West Michigan Whitecaps managerial position.

On November 7, 2017, Rabelo was promoted to the Lakeland Flying Tigers managerial position for the 2018 season and on December 13, 2018, he was promoted again as the Erie SeaWolves' manager. In January of 2020 Mike was hired by the Pittsburgh Pirates as their Major League assistant hitting coach and in January of 2021 he was named as their Major League Field Coordinator.

Rabelo was inducted into the University of Tampa Athletics Hall of Fame in 2018.

(excerpted from Baseball Almanac, BR Bullpen & Wikipedia)

morecards

2007 Upper Deck Rookie #19

tourstops


Mike is also part of the Detroit Tigers Player Tour – Go to the Next Stop


See all Mike’s baseball cards at TCDB


<- Previous | Home | Next ->


randomplayer

One thought on “Mike Rabelo: parts of 3 years in MLB, MiLB coach & manager

  1. Doug says:

    I have Mikes Press Plate of the roomie card you display. I am looking to see if he would like to have it or if you would enjoy a photo of it for this page.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *