Jeff Reboulet, The Classic No-Hit Middle Infielder Who Played In MLB For 12 Seasons

[Al from SoDak]

Jeff Reboulet was the kind of player Twins manager Tom Kelly always had rostered. He wasn't flashy or even particularly good, but he did enough right to have a long-lasting MLB career.

The Twins have had many effective utility infielders over the years. Guys who played defense capably at multiple positions. Al Newman, Denny Hocking, Nick Punto, Eduardo Escobar, Marwin González, and recent All-Star Willi Castro quickly come to mind. That doesn’t even include guys from earlier eras, like César Tovar. Some were better hitters than others, but they made their contributions through flexibility to play all over the field. Jeff Reboulet is another player in that mold, and today, I want to look more closely at his career.

Jeffrey Allen Reboulet was born in Dayton, Ohio, on April 30, 1964. He came from a baseball family. His older brother, Jim, played minor league baseball in the Cardinals organization. Jim was drafted in 1983 and, like many Cardinals of that era, was a speedster, stealing more than 60 bases three times. But his career peaked at Triple-A.

Reboulet first played college baseball at Triton College in River Grove, Illinois. He is one of 88 players from Triton to play professional baseball. Of course, one of the others is the late, great Kirby Puckett. From there, Reboulet went on to Louisiana State University. After his junior year, the Houston Astros selected Reboulet in the 26th round of the 1985 Major League Baseball June Amateur Draft. He did not sign and instead returned to LSU for one more year. After his senior season, the Twins drafted the six-foot, 167-pounder in the tenth round of the 1986 draft. 

Reboulet spent six full seasons at all Twins minor league system levels, including parts of four seasons at Triple-A. I wonder if he started to question whether he would ever make it. Finally, at 28, he was called to the Twins. He debuted on May 12, 1992, in the seventh inning of a home game against the Red Sox. He was the right-handed hitter pinch hit for Randy Bush and was 0-1 in the 6-3 victory. His first hit came in his fourth game, an RBI double in Cleveland. His first and only home run of that rookie season was on August 2 against Milwaukee in the Metrodome. Reboulet’s numbers that rookie season were .190/.311/.277. He played second, third, shortstop, and all three outfield spots. This versatility would be his calling card, which allowed him to stick to the major league level.

The next four years would see similar usage and action. He never played more than 109 games with the Twins and had more than 283 plate appearances. His best season with the bat was 1995 when he posted an OPS+ of 101. He hit .292/.373/.398 with a career-high four home runs. Baseball-Reference calculates his WAR that season at 2.6, which was also a career-high. 

Sometime during his Twins tenure, I believe Reboulet was gifted the nickname “the Inspector” by WGN’s Ken “Hawk” Harrelson because of his likeness to Peter Sellers of The Pink Panther fame. (I’m totally going off my memory on this one, so if I am wrong or you have a different recollection, please comment below.) I always thought that nickname was funny and appropriate. I suspect that Harrelson appreciated Reboulet a little; otherwise, I don’t think he would have provided a nickname to a nondescript, boring player who didn’t catch his eye.

Alas, the Twins of the mid-1990s were not good. While the Pohlads are often labeled cheap, my perception is that the mid-to-late 1990s was the low point on payroll. So, like so many other Twins of that era, Reboulet moved on after 1996. His final numbers in five seasons with the Twins ended at .248/.335/.324. He had nine home runs and exactly 100 RBI.

Reboulet moved on to three years with the Orioles, one with the Royals, two seasons with the Dodgers, and then one final season with the Pirates. He was consistent and his seasons with those four teams look awfully similar to his time in Minnesota. His offense was nothing special, but his defensive ability and flexibility allowed him to play until his age-39 season.

He got into the playoffs one season; in the 1997 American League Division Series, the Orioles faced off against the Seattle Mariners. Orioles starting second baseman Roberto Alomar had a shoulder injury, which made it difficult to swing right-handed, so Reboulet got to start the first and fourth games of the series against Seattle’s ace, Hall of Famer Randy Johnson. In game one, he did little with the bat. In Game Four, the Orioles led the series two games to one and were looking to clinch the series. In the first inning, Reboulet surprised everybody by hitting a home run against one of the greatest left-handers of all time and gave the Orioles a lead they would never relinquish. The Orioles won the game and the series.

They went on to face Cleveland in the American League Championship Series, which Cleveland won in six games. Reboulet appeared in Game Three and scored a tying run as a pinch runner in the top of the ninth, but Cleveland won in 12 innings. That would be the final postseason game he ever experienced.

Reboulet’s career statistics, including all his time with all five teams for which he played, were .240/.332/.318 with 20 home runs and 202 RBI. His OPS+ was less than ideal at 72, but he did amass 10.0 WAR. Not too shabby for the third-best player to have played at Triton College - 14-year vet Lance Johnson also played there - but not quite as good as its best alum.

In his book Sid!, Sid Hartman talks about similarities between former Vikings coach Bud Grant and Reboulet’s Twins manager Tom Kelly. Grant and Kelly liked having a few stars and then sprinkling role players around them. Bud explained, “He will make the routine plays. He will do what he’s told. He won’t bitch about playing time. He won’t lose a ball game for me.” Sid reported Kelly thought the same way and singled out players who fit that mold, such as Al Newman, Chip Hale, Randy Bush, and our subject, Jeff Reboulet.

In my judgment, that truly sums up Jeff Reboulet; he wasn’t a star, but he wasn’t going to screw up a ballgame, team, or season. He was a good team player who probably overachieved and lengthened his career because of his defensive flexibility and coachability. If you had told me in 1992 that Reboulet would play 12 seasons until he was 39, I would not have believed you. Reboulet proved me, and probably many others, wrong.

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What are your memories of Jeff Reboulet? Who are some memorable Twins utility players from the 1960s and 70s? Was I right about the Inspector nickname? Start the discussion below in the comments. 

If you like looking back at the Twins past, check out my previous articles at Twins Daily History.

Sources include Baseball Reference, Sid!, Society for American Baseball Research.

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[zwiefz]

Believe it or not, I do have a Jeff Reboulet memory(although not a playing related one). During one post-game I saw him being interviewed(no idea why). This was sometime in the middle of the Michael Jordan/I Wanna Be Like Mike hysteria.  Reboulet was wearing a shirt that said, "Forget Mike, I Wanna Be Like Puck".  Man, I wanted that shirt bad. I searched and searched but never found one.

[JCinNWMN]

 

Thanks for the article. I always liked Jeff Reboulet. He was a gamer.  And, I am a big Queen fan.

[RpR]

His last season in the Bigs , shows he did not slow down with age.