The Player: SS Trevor Plouffe Furious 5 Interview Date: 1/27/07, TwinsFest at the Metrodome Length of Interview: 5 minutes Number of Questions asked: 31

Trevor Plouffe was one of the highest rated high school players of the 2004 draft, after a standout career as both a shortstop and pitcher in California. As a senior at Crespi Carmelite High School, he batted .509 (28-55) with 23 runs, 6 homers, 20 rbi and 10 sb and was named a 2004 Collegiate Baseball News High School All-American. The Twins selected Plouffe with their first round pick (20th overall) in June 2004.

Plouffe turned 20 last June, and has been one of the youngest players on his club in each of his first three pro seasons. In 2006, he finished strong: a .304 August average, which included hitting streaks of 10 games and seven games, while his Ft. Myers team made a 22-10 stretch run to reach the Florida State League playoffs. The Miracle lost their first round series two games to one, but Plouffe went 5-for-10 in three games with a pair of RBI.

2006 also marked a strategic change by the Twins, who played Plouffe at third base for 25 games. He'll be given the opportunity to win the starting shortstop job at Double-A New Britain this season.

RedWingsBaseball.com: Your team made a late playoff run in Fort Myers last year... what were those last couple of weeks of the season like for you?
Trevor Plouffe: It was basically a playoff atmosphere in our clubhouse and in the stadium, so it was a lot of fun. We had a lot of one-run games. To be able to come together and make the playoffs at the end made it a great season.

Trevor talks to a fan at TwinsFest

RWB: Being a first round pick, there's obviously some different pressures, expectations and goals for you. How are you balancing your development as a player, with your goal of playing in the big leagues as soon as possible?
TP: I'm just trying to get better every day. Development is the most important thing in the minor leagues so I'm just trying to work on my weaknesses and I'm trying to improve each day. Whatever happens, happens. Hopefully I'll be able to be up there soon.

RWB: Where do you expect to be this season and what are you looking to accomplish this year?
TP: I'm hoping to start in New Britain and to have a good spring training, obviously. You never know where you're going to go. So I'm hoping New Britain and if I go there, I just want to try to help my team get to the playoffs and develop, like I said before.

RWB: I read that at one point you had a laundry superstition. I'm very suspicious about it. Do you still have this laundry superstition where you do your own laundry?
TP: I'm not allowed to anymore, our clubbie wouldn't let me get in there and do it. That (superstition) was in high school... my mom really appreciated it.

A look back: Crespi HS pic

RWB: You're a California native, you grew up there, you played high school baseball in Encino. When's the last time a teammate used the nickname "Encino Man" from the movie?
TP: Actually, no one's used that. I don't think anyone knows that I went to school in Encino but that [name is] good. I love it, and the Valley.

RWB: How do you sleep at night knowing that the Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is your state's Governor?
TP: He's actually been doing a pretty good job. It is a little scary, people tend to laugh at California for that, but he's been doing alright.

RWB: A key California preference question: Fatburger or In & Out Burger?
TP: In & Out, 100 percent.

RWB: Tell me a first year rookie ball horror story.
TP: Let's see... a horror story...I started in Elizabethton. I had a great time in Elizabethton and I had a great host there so I'm trying to think of a horror story.
RWB: Was there a bus trip thing?
TP: Okay, how about this. The first bus ride I'd ever taken in baseball was 15 hours from Fort Myers to Tennessee so that was tough, I didn't know anybody.

RWB: How many e-mail accounts do you have?
TP: One.

RWB: Who owns the name TrevorPlouffe.com?
TP: I don't think anybody should.

Trevor's 2005 Beloit card

RWB: What's your favorite web site?
TP: BaseballAmerica.com... I used to go on the Twins' web site a lot. Anything baseball related.

RWB: What's the last karaoke song you sang?
TP: It was at my girlfriend's brother's wedding.. I don't even know the name of the song. "I like that old time rock and roll..."
RWB: Bob Seger, "Old Time Rock and Roll."
TP: There you go.

RWB: True or false: the Ramones are the greatest American rock band ever?
TP: False - Led Zeppelin. Oh, American rock band... I still say false.

RWB: Eminem: played out wanksta or musical visionary?
TP: Wanksta.

RWB: Complete this sentence: most people don't know that I...
TP: ....play hackeysack.

RWB: Favorite pre-game meal?
TP: Patinella's Chicken Grill, in Fort Myers.

RWB: Sunflower seeds or bubble gum?
TP: Bubble gum.

RWB: Would you rather be stranded in a desert or in a jungle?
TP: Jungle. I'd be friends with all the native animals.

RWB: Who's your favorite Hilton sister, Paris or Nikki?
TP: Neither.

RWB: If you were forced to sit in a hot tub with Rosie O'Donnell, Oprah Winfrey, Joan Rivers and Melissa Rivers, who'd be the first one you would ask to leave and why?
TP: Joan Rivers, because I can't stand her voice.

RWB: And if you could choose to spend one hour with one of them, who would it be and why?
TP: Oprah, because she tends to give a lot of her friends expensive gifts.

RWB: Leno or Letterman?
TP: Letterman.

RWB: Conan O'Brien or Jimmy Kimmel?
TP: I like them both, but Conan is great.

RWB: "CSI" or "American Idol"?
TP: Neither.

Trevor Plouffe (right) and Toby Gardenhire sign autographs at TwinsFest, Jan. 2007

RWB: Worst reality television show you've ever seen?
TP: All of them, but "Beauty and the Geek."

RWB: Favorite ball player when you were a kid?
TP: Ozzie Smith.

RWB: Favorite Saturday night song to get you cranked up before you go out?
TP: Hmmm, there's so many. I'm a big music guy... how about Pepper, "Are You Down."

RWB: Sunday morning song?
TP: Led Zeppelin, "The Rain Song."

RWB: Kids all have the iPods these days, and I heard they have like 500 songs. How do you actually get the songs onto that little iPod thing?
TP: Actually, I have like 4,000 songs on mine.

RWB: So do you carry it around in a big bag, or...?
TP: I actually buy a lot of CD's, I like to support the artists. So I buy CD's and just upload them.

RWB: A favorite local band from the California music scene near where you live?
TP: Bad Religion.

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