Should Minnesota Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe be worried about benching?
By Nam Huynh
Apr 15, 2013; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe throws during the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
Minnesota Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe has found himself on the bench after a misplay in the hot corner on Friday when he let a ball skip past his glove into left field.
Manager Ron Gardenhire penciled in Eduardo Escobar at third base on Saturday, followed with Jamey Carroll on Sunday.
This season at third base, Plouffe is rated near the bottom of the league defensively in every traditional or advanced statistical measurement available.
As Phil Mackey of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities reports, Gardenhire says he is not punishing Plouffe with the benching, but the skipper is clearly not happy with the defensive play from his starting third baseman.
"“He just didn’t attack it,” Gardenhire said via 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. “He stepped back. It took a bad hop after the fact, but basically it was right there and he just took a side step to play the big hop… He’s just not attacking enough right now, stepping back a lot.“We’re going to go back into our drills. That’s one thing I’ve talked to Scott (Ullger) about; we need to go back to our soft toss drills and get him attacking, because he’s getting in a rut of really stepping back on everything. We need to get him to be more aggressive.”"
Apr 25, 2013; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Twins shortstop Eduardo Escobar (5) throws the ball to first base to get out Texas Rangers center fielder Craig Gentry (not pictured) in the ninth inning at Target Field. The Rangers won 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Escobar is playing particularly well offensively and defensively. He is batting .438 and has yet to commit an error this season, bouncing between shortstop and third base.
If Plouffe continues to struggle defensively, Escobar may get a shot at some regular playing time at the hot corner.