It's a good thing Trevor Plouffe can take a little ribbing from his teammates, because Mike Pelfrey likes to dish it out.
At the start of the year, Pelfrey joked that the Twins third baseman had a plastic glove -- a far cry from a gold one. As the season has gone on, though, Plouffe has continued to make the difficult plays at third base look routine. Because of that, his glove material is slowly progressing on the Pelfrey scale.
"I think I started at an aluminum glove or plastic, and then I've moved my way up," Plouffe said. "I've got a ways to go, but I'm improving, which is good."
The improvements Plouffe has made defensively in 2015 can be measured both by the naked eye and by defensive metrics. Everything Plouffe is doing at third passes the eye test. He simply looks like a more confident player, always sure of what needs to happen on any given play. His arm is much more accurate than in years past, too, and he's no longer throwing the ball several rows deep into the stands.
As far as the metrics go, they indicate that Plouffe's defense is indeed on the right track. Already in 2015 he has four defensive runs saved, compared to six in all of 2014. That number was zero in 2013 and -8 in 2012, when Plouffe was almost more of a liability than an asset at third base.
If his ability to play third base was ever in question, Plouffe has provided the answer.
"He struggled there some. All of a sudden, last year he started to show some progress, which was good -- enough where we were certainly willing to play it out," said Twins general manager Terry Ryan. "Now this year he looks like he's very comfortable over there. He's making plays. He's throwing the ball with some accuracy. He looks much more confident over there."
Throughout his minor-league career, Plouffe was almost exclusively a shortstop. The former first-round pick did play 81 minor-league games at third base over a six-year stretch, but it appeared early on as if his big league future was at shortstop.
That experiment came to an end after Plouffe's second year in the majors, during which he committed 11 errors in 45 games at shortstop in 2011. Minnesota moved him around the field the following year, including a stint as a right fielder. By 2013, Plouffe played 95 games in one season at third base. It was still a learning process, but the Twins were willing to be patient with him at that position.
The patience has paid off in the form of a third baseman who is now making a case for his first career All-Star Game.
"We lived through it. There were some growing pains, there's no doubt about that," Ryan said. "But we've done that a lot with young players around here, shown a lot of patience with many and ultimately it usually pays off. If the guy's got a work ethic and he never gives up on the fact that he wants to be a guy, which Plouffe, he's a good one. We don't have to beg him to work, that's for sure."
Aside from his markedly improved defense, Plouffe has continued to produce at the plate. He's currently batting .262 with 29 RBI, eight home runs and 10 doubles in 49 games. According to FanGraphs, Plouffe's WAR (Wins Above Replacement) of 1.3 is fifth-best among all American League third basemen.
Plouffe has also developed into a leader in the clubhouse. Now in his sixth year in the majors, Plouffe has more experience than most players in the Twins' locker room. He and second baseman Brian Dozier have joined veterans Torii Hunter and Joe Mauer as the experienced core of Minnesota's lineup -- one that has propelled the Twins to a 31-21 record.
Yet for as good of a year as Plouffe is having offensively, whatever he does at the plate might very well be overshadowed by what he does with his glove -- which is, according to Pelfrey, now bronze.
"I definitely feel confident over there," Plouffe said about third base. "For me, I think being prepared breeds that confidence. I know that I've put the work in, and then you put the work in and all you've got to do is play the game, so that's kind of how I feel right now."
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