Rath Named First Team

By Paul D. Bowker
Posted 8/3/21

One night this summer, Mid-Prairie baseball star Aidan Rath danced home with the winning run in a walk-off victory that gave the Golden Hawks a second consecutive district championship.

Another …

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Rath Named First Team

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One night this summer, Mid-Prairie baseball star Aidan Rath danced home with the winning run in a walk-off victory that gave the Golden Hawks a second consecutive district championship.

Another night, he pitched a no-hitter against Wilton.

Yet another night, he hit two home runs against Northeast.

The highlight list is a long one for Rath, who is a Kirkwood Community College baseball commit and comes from a family known for its athletic achievements. His dad, Allen, won a Big Ten baseball title while he played at the University of Iowa. His mom, Amy, played softball at Iowa.

This week, Aidan Rath was named a First Team All-State selection in Class 2A by the Iowa Print Sports Writers Association.

No surprise there, considering Aidan’s achievements. But indeed a great honor.

“I’m very proud of him,” Golden Hawks head coach Kyle Mullet said earlier this season. “Seeing his hard work pay off and give him success is very rewarding to watch.”

Rath was also one of five Mid-Prairie players named Class 2A Southeast All-District by the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association. He was a Second Team All-State IHSBCA selection last year with tbis year’s selections still to come.

Only two players in all of Iowa, Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s Dylan Davis and Wahlert Catholic’s Jake Brosius, hit more home runs this season than Rath did. Rath’s 12 home runs ranked first in Class 2A; last year he was second with five home runs. He hit nine more home runs this summer than any other hitter in the River Valley South Conference.

Rath’s slugging percentage of 1.106 ranked No. 5 among all classes and No. 2 in Class 2A.

Wondering about his impact? In last year’s district championship game against West Liberty, a three-run homer by Rath in his first at-bat pulled Mid-Prairie out of a three-run deficit. In this year’s district title game against Williamsburg, he drove in the tying run in the final inning and scored the winning run.

He became such a threat offensively, batting third in the Golden Hawks lineup, that virtually every time he walked up to the plate to hit, opposing coaches were forced into a decision: should we walk him or should we try to sneak a curve and a change-up past him?

Many opted for the walk.

He led the Hawks in walks with 14, but why did it seem like a hundred or so? Sometimes Rath was walked three times in one game, including in the substate final loss against Davis County. Rath’s .598 on-base percentage ranked No. 2 in Class 2A.

And when he didn’t walk, he hit. Rath led the River Valley South in hits with 42 and RBIs with 40.

When Rath got ready to hit, chants of “Uh-oh” rolled out of the Golden Hawks dugout, often rattling the opposing pitcher.

If the hitting wasn’t enough to get Rath on the All-State team, then his pitching certainly helped.

Unable to pitch last year due to an injury, Rath was one of Mid-Prairie’s starters this year. He struck out 63 to rank No. 2 in the River Valley South, including 13 in his no-hitter. He led the Golden Hawks with five wins.

One of seven seniors on this year’s team, which fell just one win short of reaching the state tournament for the second consecutive year, Rath began his relationship with Mullet in his freshman year when Mullet, a Mid-Prairie graduate, joined the team as freshman coach. Along those four years, Rath developed a bond with Mullet, former head coach Andy Greiner and others that resulted in back-to-back conference and district titles.

And now an All-State honor.

Add it to the resume, Aidan.

News columnist Paul Bowker can be reached at bowkerpaul1@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @bowkerpaul.