Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe at some point in the next week will likely break a club record that has stood for 45 years.
But it’s not one of those records he would really want to hold.
Plouffe has hit into a Major League-leading 27 double plays in 112 chances this season. But with 18 games remaining in the season, Plouffe is right on the heels of Harmon Killebrew’s club record of 28.
Most double plays in Twins history:
28 – Harmon Killebrew 1970
27 – TREVOR PLOUFFE 2015
27 – Kirby Puckett 1991
26 – Michael Cuddyer 2010— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) September 16, 2015
According to the Pioneer Press, Plouffe’s double-play rate of 24.1 percent easily leads the team. Amazingly before this season, Plouffe’s career double-play percentage was just 9.9 percent: 38 times on 383 total chances since 2010. His highest season total was 12 in 2014 and his highest rate was 10.8 percent in 2013.
Plouffe’s most recent twin-killing came during the seventh inning of Tuesday night’s loss to Detroit. The Twins trailed 4-3 after a two-run single from Miguel Sano and still had runners on the corners and one out – that is until Plouffe sent a ground ball right to Detroit shortstop Austin Romine, who easily started the double play.
“If you’re a double-play guy, you don’t ever really conquer it,” Twins manager Paul Molitor told the newspaper recently. “Sometimes they go your way and sometimes they don’t. They can come in bunches. There’s really not a lot of rhyme or reason.”
As a team, the Twins have grounded into double plays on 12 percent of their 937 chances – only slightly higher than the league average of 11 percent.
Acknowledged far too little, Trevor Plouffe is a huge part of the #MNTwins winning: http://t.co/gWdOwbuERp @IBWAA pic.twitter.com/iqzCkcNaRE
— Ted (@tlschwerz) September 15, 2015
That’s not to say Plouffe hasn’t been a major part of the Twins lineup this year. He has followed his breakout season in 2014 with another outstanding season.
Through 135 games Off the Baggy notes that he owns a .250/.313/.445 slash line. On the year Plouffe has 127 hits, 31 doubles, four triples, 20 home runs and 79 RBIs.
