Dave DuPlessis

David M. DuPlessis

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 6", Weight 225 lb.
• School Los Medanos College, Saint Mary's College of California
• High School Antioch (CA) High School

• Born February 8, 1970 in Pittsburg, CA USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Big first baseman Dave DuPlessis, who stood 6'6" tall, played four seasons in the minor leagues but peaked in Class A.

He was drafted twice, first by the Houston Astros in the 39th round of the 1989 amateur draft out of community college, then in the 33rd round of the 1991 amateur draft by the Cleveland Indians, out of Saint Mary's College of California.

After signing with the Indians, he spent the remainder of the 1991 season with the Burlington Indians of the Appalachian League, where he hit .233 with 6 homers and 24 RBIs in 30 games. In 1992, he started the season with the Salinas Spurs, an unaffiliated team in the California League to which the Indians loaned some of their lower-tier prospects that year. He hit .242 in 69 games, then when the Short-Season Class A New York-Penn League got going in June, he moved to the Watertown Indians, where he played another 61 games, hitting .293. His combined line in 130 games between the two teams was .267/.342/.442 with 24 doubles, 14 homers, 62 runs and 58 RBIs. In 1993, he moved to the Columbus RedStixx of the South Atlantic League but only appeared in 52 games, although he hit quite well, with a slash line of .289/.375/.476, 8 homers and 32 RBIs.

Following the 1993 season, on February 14, 1994, he was included in a major league trade when the Montreal Expos sent pitcher Chris Nabholz, a regular member of their starting rotation over the past three seasons, to the Indians in return for two prospects, Duplessis and P J.J. Thobe. Dave was heading to the area of the continent from which his family likely originated, since Duplessis (as it is usually spelled) is a French Canadian name. However, he never actually made it to Montreal, as he failed to stand out in an organization loaded with prospects. He did not do badly for the West Palm Beach Expos of the Florida State League, as he hit .260/.351/.393 in 115 games in a tough league for hitters, with 24 doubles and 8 homers, but it was his final season. He was second on the team in both homers and RBIs (58), both times behind Izzy Alcantara, and third in doubles (24), behind Alcantara and Jose Vidro. While Thobe did make it briefly to the Show, Dave never played professional baseball after that season.