New man at 3rd a pro at adapting
MESA, Ariz. — Trevor Plouffe is very much a product of his environment.
The A’s new third baseman had no choice but to become proficient at baseball as a child growing up in Castaic (Los Angeles County), because he played up three years to be on a team with his older brother, Marshall.
“When I was 9, I played on my brother’s 12year-old team because it was easier for my dad: ‘I’m not going to go to two different practices! Why not have both kids on the same team?’ ” Plouffe said. “So you have to learn and get better or you’re seen as just a little 9-year-old.”
Then, during his long tenure with the Twins, Plouffe turned his lowest professional moment
into a triumph, while grabbing inspiration and information everywhere he could.
Plouffe, now 30, played all over the place his first few seasons with the Twins: shortstop, second base, some outfield. He struggled, though, to find a fit. His last game at shortstop came early in the 2012 season.
“I came to camp as a shortstop and I didn’t have success as a shortstop — I wasn’t good at all. I’d always thought of myself as a good defensive player, and all of a sudden, I wasn’t one,” Plouffe said.
Moved to the outfield, Plouffe failed to impress there, either, so he was moved to third after Danny Valencia was demoted. That didn’t go well, either, and Plouffe’s opportunities were dwindling, so he sought out Twins manager Ron Gardenhire for guidance.
“I struggled at third, too, and I knew I didn’t want the same to happen that had happened at shortstop and in the outfield,” Plouffe said, “I went in to Gardy and I asked, ‘What do I need to do to get better?’ That was like a breakthrough for me, I think, and as soon as I said that, the coaching staff knew I’d changed the way I was going about things.”
Gardenhire, now Arizona’s bench coach, credited Plouffe with making himself into a good third baseman, saying, “He made himself an everyday player because he worked really hard getting comfortable at third. He just got stronger and stronger there, and really turned things around. He really had to make himself a better defender, and that’s not easy at that position.”
As it turned out, Plouffe found there was a silver lining to his time in the outfield: He’d found the ideal arm slot to play third, which is why he has something of an unorthodox throwing technique for the position, throwing from a little higher up top to get more backspin.
At the same time that he was making strides at third, Plouffe found a mentor both on and off the field in former A’s outfielder Josh Willingham, then in his first season with the Twins.
“We developed a really good relationship because he’s just a good guy, a guy you want to be around a lot,” Plouffe said. “He had everything you’d want — a good family, he’s a good dad. He’s someone I looked up to. I was like, ‘Man, that’s who I want to be like.’ I love him.
“He told me, ‘You have to know who you are as a hitter.’ And maybe at that point, I didn’t know who I was as a hitter. I was trying to be something I wasn’t, and he really drove that home: ‘What can you do well? Focus on that.’ ”
“Hitting at that level can be humbling, humiliating,” Willingham, now retired, said by phone. “The more you overthink, you compound the problem. I told him to focus on his strengths.”
For Plouffe, that meant hitting the ball with more authority, and he did so — and right in harmony with Willingham. From May 16 to July 14 in 2012, the two crushed a total of 32 homers, and nine times they homered in the same game, including three games in which they combined for three.
“I remember it being kind of a friendly challenge between us,” Willingham said. “If one of us hit a homer, we’d shake hands and say, ‘OK, it’s your turn,’ and the other one would hit one. It was a one- or two-month span that was really something.”
Plouffe finished with 24 homers, his career high.
“Every good player has a moment in his career where he realizes, ‘OK, I can play up here,’ where he realizes he isn’t overmatched,” Willingham said. “I saw that with Trevor in 2012. It clicked.”
Plouffe wound up spending 13 years in the Twins’ organization, his entire career before signing with Oakland as a free agent during the winter. He’d absorbed knowledge from all sorts of teammates, including All-Star outfielder Torii Hunter.
“I never understood how he could smile so much. He was always upbeat and positive — but that’s why he’s Torii Hunter,” Plouffe said. “So that’s something I’m trying to do this year, show up and be as positive as possible every single day.”
Gardenhire said he found it strange to see Plouffe in another uniform when the Diamondbacks played the A’s this spring.
“When I saw him out there, I was like, ‘Wow, I did not think that would ever happen,’ I would think he’d end his career with the Twins,” Gardenhire said. “Everyone in Minnesota loves him.”
Plouffe said he thought he’d be with the Twins his entire career, too, but he bears the front office no ill will.
“That’s the business,” he said. “It’s out of the ordinary to be with one organization as long as I was, I know, so I say, ‘OK, I was lucky to be there as long as I was.’ That’s kind of how I took it.
“And I’m here now, and I feel like it’s such a good fit, too. So you just take it and roll with it. I think this is going to be really good for me.”
Ever ready to acclimate to his circumstances, Plouffe instantly became one of the A’s clubhouse leaders, and despite going 0-for-3 Saturday, he’s batting .346 this spring.
He’s also laying the groundwork for his favorite off-field pursuit — home brewing and craft beers — by reaching out to some Bay Area breweries, including Berkeley’s Fieldwork.
“What I like about the craft beer community is you get together and talk about it, it’s a social thing,” Plouffe said. “It’s not about drinking and getting drunk. It’s like, ‘What do you think of this?’ I’ve made lots of friends in the Minnesota craft beer community, some best friends, gone on beer trips.
“I love to pick their brains. I don’t know where it’s going, but I have some ideas working.”
Plouffe Beer, coming to the A’s new Shibe Park Tavern, maybe? That might make him as popular as he was in Minnesota.
“He’s a special kid,” Gardenhire said. “He takes the time to talk to everyone, he’s very likable, outgoing and kind, he has a huge heart. I was fortunate to watch this young man grow up and turn himself into a good player. We had a lot of fun.”