Daniel Wayne Ardoin is a retired catcher in Major League Baseball. He bats and throws right-handed. Ardoin attended Sacred Heart High School in Ville Platte, Louisiana where he played for Coach Scott Carter and helped lead the Trojans to a State Title in 1992. Danny 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. High... school is also where he met his wife, Karen Ardoin. Ardoin was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 5th 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 between 1996 and 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 him to the Minnesota Twins for Mario Valdez, and he was assigned to the AAA Salt Lake Buzz.
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