Daniel Wayne Ardoin (born July 8, 1974) is an American former professional baseball catcher. He played five seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2000 to 2008 for the Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers, Colorado Rockies, Baltimore Orioles, and Los Angeles Dodgers. High school years Ardoin attended Sacred Heart High School in Ville Platte, Louisiana, where he played for Scott Carter and helped lead the Trojans to a state title in 1992. He was also a letterman in football, baseball, golf and track. In baseball, he was named the Class AA Most Valuable Player as a senior. Ardoin was heavily recruited as a senior by the Seattle Mariners and the Cincinnati Reds, but chose to play JUCO ball at Texarkana Junior College, and then attended McNeese State University. Early career Ardoin was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the fifth round of the 1995 MLB draft, and made his professional baseball debut with the Southern Oregon A's in the Northwest League. He made his way up through the A's farm system from 1996 to 2000, playing for the Modesto A's, Visalia Oaks, Huntsville Stars, Vancouver Canadians, and Sacramento River Cats. On July 31, 2000, the A's traded Ardoin to the Minnesota Twins for Mario Valdez, and he was assigned to the AAA Salt Lake Buzz. Minnesota Twins After only three games with the Buzz, Ardoin made his major league debut on August 2, 2000 against the Baltimore Orioles, going hitless in two at-bats with three walks and a run scored. He played in 15 games with the Twins that year, finishing with a .125 batting average. He hit his first major league home run (his only one of the season) in the first inning on August 10 off the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' Tanyon Sturtze. He spent the entire 2001 season at AAA with the Edmonton Trappers, hitting .255 in 302 at-bats and then became a free agent. Kansas City Royals/Texas Rangers Ardoin signed with the Kansas City Royals in December 2001 and played 25 games with the Omaha Royals before they released him. He was soon picked up by the Texas Rangers and played for their farm teams, the Tulsa Drillers and Oklahoma RedHawks. He spent two more seasons with Oklahoma, before getting another shot at the majors in late 2004 with the Rangers, appearing in six games for the team and getting one hit in eight at-bats. Colorado Rockies