Frandsen relishing fresh start

You can take the boy out of San Jose, but in talking to Kevin Frandsen, it is clear you cannot take the San Jose out of the boy. Frandsen is a straight-shooting, nose-to-the-grindstone ballplayer. His baseball career has been no smooth path, though. In his personal life, he has seen his share of rocky roads as well. Through it all, he just keeps doing what he's always done -- going first to third, turning it fearlessly over the middle, and above all, swinging the bat to the tune of .300-plus. The 2010 season has already been quite the odyssey for Frandsen, who recently landed with the Angels' Triple-A affiliate Salt Lake City after playing five seasons in the Giants organization. The 27-year old infielder is off to a hot start, batting .364 (8 for 22) through his first week with the Bees. The San Jose native's reaction to this is a tell-tale mix of swagger and humility. "It is what it is," Frandsen said. "I hit .320 for my entire minor-league career. So, I am doing what I have always done." Indeed. Frandsen entered the season with a career minor-league average of .318. What's more, he was in camp with the Giants this spring competing for a big-league job. Then, his journey began on March 26 he was traded to Boston for cash. "[It] was bittersweet because I grew up a Giants fan," Frandsen said. In addition to growing up a Giants fan and having had played for the organization his entire career, Frandsen etched a legendary sports career in San Jose. He was a three-sport athlete at Bellarmine Prep, then went on to set the all-time hits record at San Jose State. After being selected by the Giants in the 12th round of the 2004 draft, Frandsen started his first full season of pro ball with Giants' High-A affiliate San Jose. He hit .351 through a half season there, before being promoted to Double-A. The next year, on April 28, 2006, he made his big-league debut with a 3-for-4 game against Arizona. Honored by Righetti Soon thereafter, Frandsen was honored by another San Jose native, Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti. Over most of his playing days and throughout his entire coaching career, Righetti wore No. 19. This was also a sentimental number to Frandsen, whose brother, D.J., had sported No. 19 throughout his youth. The Frandsen family lost D.J. in 2005, after he succumbed to a Wilms' tumor, a form of kidney cancer. Frandsen said he tried to politely say no to Righetti's offer, but the stare given by the venerable coach when he insisted convinced Frandsen otherwise. "Dave knew it was a number that meant a lot to me, that meant a lot to my family," Frandsen said. "At first I said: 'No.' But, he gave me that stare ... and it was like: 'OK.' I came home from a road trip and there it was in my locker. It was quite an honor." Costly injuries However, Frandsen's struggles at the plate in 2006 caused him to bounce between Triple-A and the Major Leagues several times. Soon after being optioned to Fresno in August, he sustained multiple fractures in his jaw when he was struck in the face with a bunted ball. In 2007, Frandsen rebounded and made his best case for becoming the second baseman of the future in San Francisco, hitting .269 in 264 big-league at bats. Entering 2008, with veteran second baseman Ray Durham in the final year of his contract, Frandsen was poised to compete with speedster Emmanuel Burriss for that very destiny. Then, Frandsen was snake bitten by a ruptured Achilles tendon while running the bases in a spring training game. "I was trying to push the envelope going first to third (base), and ended up on my face," Frandsen said. The most debilitating injury of his career cost him an entire season to the disabled list. According to Frandsen, he had felt pain in his foot for days leading up to the rupture, but knew there was something severely wrong when he hit the dirt, but felt no pain at all. "The trainer said there was no more pain because there was no more Achilles," Frandsen said. Painful rehab The pain soon returned though, and Frandsen -- an athlete trying simply and literally to once again get his legs under him -- was confronted with the long road back. "It was five, six months of grueling rehab of learning how to walk and learning how to run," Frandsen said. Despite returning to action for a productive stint in the 2008 Arizona Fall League, Frandsen was nagged by the lingering effects of the injury going into the 2009 season. He posted his first sub-.300 minor-league season, but not by much, hitting .295 at Fresno. He turned in a horrific big-league average of .140, however, including going hitless in May when he went 0 for 16. San Jose reunions A strong showing this year in spring training -- Frandsen combined to hit .250 (13 for 52) in camp with both the Giants and Red Sox -- was not enough to prolong his storybook career with the team for which he grew up rooting. In less than a month with Red Sox affiliate Pawtucket after being traded, Frandsen hit .258 with two home runs, but was dropped from the 40-man roster when Boston had to make some moves to bolster its pitching staff. As a result, the Angels claimed Frandsen off waivers. The silver lining for Frandsen was that he was ticketed for Triple-A Salt Lake, where he has been paired over the middle with not one, but two fellow San Jose natives: Former San Jose State infielder Gary Patchett -- who has gone 5 for 12 at the plate since the acquisition of Frandsen -- and Frandsen's former double-play partner from Bellarmine, Nate Sutton. "[Sutton] and I both revel in the fact that this is pretty unique," Frandsen said. "This is something that no one can ever take away from us." Salt Lake is currently in Sacramento, playing the third game of a four-game series tonight at 7:05 p.m. Then, the Bees travel to Fresno for a weekend series with Frandsen's former team. "No one knows how weird that will be, going back to play the organization I played with for so many years," Frandsen said. "It's bittersweet, but I love the fans there because they've always been so good to me."