MLB: It’s Plouffe’s turn to sweat out days before baby born

By Mike Berardino
St. Paul Pioneer Press
ANAHEIM, Calif. - It was two years ago this week, right here at Angel Stadium, that Joe Mauer was pulled out of batting practice and went racing back to the Twin Cities for the birth of his twin daughters.
After securing a spot on a private charter and getting a ride from Angels visiting clubhouse manager Brian “Bubba” Harkins to LA/Ontario (Calif.) International Airport, Mauer burst into the delivery room with just 30 minutes to spare.
This week it’s Trevor Plouffe’s turn to sweat the possibilities. Olivia Plouffe, the third baseman’s wife, is due Saturday with the couple’s first child, a boy they plan to name Theodore Winston James Plouffe.
The Twins aren’t due to return home until Thursday night, but the laid-back southern Californian believes everything will go as planned. A 10-day homestand starts Friday against the New York Yankees.
“I expect to be home when it happens,” he said. “Everything is pointing to (the baby) coming after the due date. They say the first one is always later. For some reason I just feel like I know I’m going to be there, so I’m not worried about it. I try to tell her that, too, but she’s a little more worried that I am.”
That doesn’t mean Plouffe, 29, and Twins staffers aren’t covering all the bases. Director of team travel Mike Herman is the point man should Plouffe need to hurry back to the Twin Cities, where his wife is spending these final few anxious days with her sister.
“Mike Herman is my guy,” Plouffe said. “During the game, if he gets a call, he’s going to come get me, and he’ll book a flight and I’ll just get out as fast as I can. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that, but if it does I’ll make the best of it. There’s a chance it will happen that way.”
It helps that Plouffe has a limited role in the birth. After going back and forth on the issue, his wife has decided to take an epidural, so the couple didn’t even have to attend birthing classes.
“I’m holding the hand,” he said. “I just need to be there.”
After starting his second half with a grand slam off Oakland ace Sonny Gray over the weekend, Plouffe said it hasn’t been hard to concentrate.
“To be honest with you, I don’t even really think about it,” he said. “I guess maybe if it was my second one, I’d know how it feels. I don’t really know what to expect. I don’t really think about it when I’m out there, which I guess is a good thing.
“It’s not that I’m not trying to think about it. I’m definitely excited. It’s just another thing I have no control over. Such is life.”
The plan had been to have rookie phenom Miguel Sano fill in at third base for the day or two Plouffe is away on paternity leave. Sano’s sprained right ankle, suffered Saturday in Oakland, might change those plans.
Plouffe said he and his wife have already received plenty of advice from teammates and their spouses about what to expect.
“That’s the cool thing about this team, is there’s a lot of young families,” Plouffe said. “She’s been able to reap the advice from other moms, and I’ve been able to talk to guys about how they handle it through the season and how they get their sleep and all that stuff. It’s been good for us.”
What is the main suggestion?
“They say prepare for it. Get your sleep now,” Plouffe said. “That’s kind of the No. 1 rule everyone has said. I think there’s going to be times during the season that Olivia is going to have to take over that whole role.”
After her sister leaves, Plouffe’s mother and mother-in-law will make trips into the Twin Cities to help with the adjustment. He’ll head back out on the road Aug. 3, starting a stretch in which the Twins will be home for just six days in a 25-day period.
“We put a bed in the baby room for her,” Plouffe said. “Unfortunately, at the beginning, the baby wakes up, it’s not for me, it’s for her.”
Once the Twins’ season ends, whether in early October or after a postseason run, the third baseman knows that will change.
“She’s been telling me, ‘OK, I got it during the season, but once the offseason comes, you’re going to get your butt in there,’ ” Plouffe said.
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