In 1997, Cuddyer was named Virginia's Player of the Year and Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year.

That year, he was also a member of USA Today's All-Star and the USA Junior National teams.

Michael has excellent work ethic and outstanding intangible makeup. He makes adjustments well and is very coachable. He is a team leader.

You won't find many players who live for the victory more than Cuddyer. He truly loves to win. He is the most optimistic and gregarious personality on his team.

The work ethic, staying power and level-headedness comes from his parents. His father, Henry, held a blue-collar job driving a truck, delivering Little Debbie snacks to stores around Norfolk, Va. His day began at 2 a.m. and ended at 2 p.m.

"In the summer, when there was nobody home to babysit me, I would get up with my dad at two in the morning. He'd let me sleep in the truck," Michael recalled. "In the morning, sometimes I traded snack cakes for Krispy Kreme donuts and some milk."

Cuddyer's mom, Marcia Harris, knew how to put her son in his place.

"When I was in Little League, if I had a good game, I'd say, 'Mom, did you see the game I had today?'" Cuddy said. "She would look back at me and say, 'Look Michael, if you played that well, everybody else is talking about it. You don't have to, too.' That's always stuck with me. That taught me humility and humbleness.

"Back in high school, I never wanted to be labeled as any one thing. I never wanted to be the 'jock' or the 'nerd' or 'the popular person.' I wanted to be everything. I took pride in that and I still take pride in being somebody who can get along with everybody. I think that's helped me with my baseball career."

Cuddy is comfortable in every corner of the clubhouse.

Cuddyer lost the hearing in that left ear at age 11 after suffering a rare viral infection. But you would never know he cannot hear out of that left ear. In fact, when he signed his first contract with the Twins, he checked "no" by the line asking if he had any hearing problems.

"It wasn't a problem," Michael said. "It isn't a problem."

Mike's 2000 Topps baseball card had Mike Restovich's picture on it, and vice versa.

CARD TRICKS

Cuddyer is a clubhouse star, amazing his teammates with card tricks. He began doing sleight-of-hand when he was a kid, and worked in his tricks at baseball camps. He has earned the nickname "The Magician."

When he was 15, he started making up his own card tricks, including the one that still blows away most everyone: "You pick a card from the deck," Cuddyer explains. "While you're holding it in your hand and looking at it, I show you another card in the deck. While you're still holding your card, I take the other card and put it somewhere else in the room. Then you take your card and put it back in the deck. I look through the deck, find your card and show it to you, and while you're holding it, I tap it a few times and when you look at your card again, it's not your card anymore. Now it's the card I had put on the other side of the room. And when someone goes and gets the other care, it's your card!"

"I've been meaning to bring it in to camp,'' Cuddyer said.

He finally remembered to bring the book to 2008 spring training, and before a workout Cuddyer was outside the Twins clubhouse asking Carew to autograph it. From near trash to autographed treasure.

In 2001, he was second in the Eastern League in on-base percentage (.395) and extra-base hits (69), was third in homers, and fourth in doubles and slugging percentage (.560).

After Christmas every year, Cuddyer often takes a little vacation.

"Where I'm from, here in Virginia, is very close to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It's a popular beach location for tourists in the summer, but with it being cold now, the beach homes get very inexpensive. So usually every year a bunch of my friends and I rent one and go down there. In January 2006, I'm going with my fiancée and a bunch of other couples to ring in the New Year."

"Matt LeCroy was in the wedding," Cuddyer said of his former Twins teammate. "You know how he sweats. My wedding pictures are awful."

"Matt can work up a lather just leaning against the batting cage," Cuddyer said. "We had a great time."

Michael is a couch potato.

"I pretty much sit on my couch and watch movies," he said. But he also said, "I don't watch movies as much," since he got married.

Cuddyer has a long list of favorites: "Braveheart," "Shawshank Redemption," "The Natural," and "Goodfellas."

"I'm not afraid of chick flicks. I even like stupid humor. I like the Wayans brothers. I watch 'White Chicks' every time it's on and get a laugh."

In 2008, Michael joined forces with Washington's Ryan Zimmerman, Tampa Bay's B.J. Upton, Arizona's Justin Upton, and former Major Leaguer Tim Hummel—all from Virginia—to build a 30,000-square-foot baseball training facility in Virginia Beach. The facility was expected to open in 2009.

Starting in May 2008, Cuddyer began wearing a mouthpiece to help improve his hitting and fielding.

The way it's been explained to me is it relaxes your jaw, which relaxes your face, which relaxes your shoulders and traps [trapezius muscles], and all of that is a key to athletic performance."

When wearing the PPM—Pure Power Mouthguard, Michael experienced a great increase in range of motion when he rotated his torso. "That would help with hitting and with throwing," he said. "It's fascinating to me. David Ortiz says Manny (Ramirez) loves it, that it's all he talks about. So I figured I'll give it a shot. It can't hurt. And if it does hurt, I'll stop wearing it."

June 2, 2010: Cuddyer's father-in-law, Je Rente, died in his sleep, so Michael left the team for a few days to be with his wife, Claudia, and family in Virginia.

During the winter before the 2011 season, Cuddyer bought a Canon EOS 60D digital SLR camera. He got the picture-taking bug from his brother-in-law who had shown hism beautiful sunrises and sunsets.

Michael then read up on photography and decided to take photos during the season to kind of chronicle the Twins' season. Besides having great access to stadiums and clubhouses all around the game, he took shots around the great cities on the club's itinerary.

"I'm the type that if I'm going to do something, I want to do it the right way. I didn't want to just take snapshots of stuff," Cuddyer said. "I wanted to, first of all, learn how to take pictures, and I'm still learning every day. I wanted to learn how to use a camera and how to make cool effects and stuff like that, and apply it to the stadiums."

Cuddyer has been respected as a clubhouse leader and most years buys T-shirts during spring season with a motivational slogan to inspire his team.  Sometimes the slogans cannot become newspaper printable because of it's offensive language.

"Before I met Harmon—before Harmon had ever seen my signature—it kind of looked like an EKG," Cuddyer said. "It was kind of zig-zag. People didn't know if it was my heartbeat or if it was my name. So I did a signing with Harmon, balls kept coming through, and he kept looking at this chicken scratch. Finally he asked whose this was. There weren't very many other people signing, so it was pretty easy to decide it was my signature. He told me, 'If I see this come through the line again, I'm going to stop signing. I'm going to get up and walk away, and the only person these thousands of people will be mad at is you.'

"So from that moment forward, I wrote it so that every letter, you could read it. And over the years, I constantly worked on it, worked on it, to the point where it's a pleasure to look at it. I take a lot of pride in that and it's because of Harmon."  (Newman - mlb.com - 8/06/13)

"That's the way to work these things out," Weiss said. "You get in there, you sweat, you get your hands dirty and you figure it out that way. There are no magic words you can say. It's not like these guys are going up there without focus or intent. It's just one of those cycles of the season." (Thomas Harding MLB.com 5/30/2014)

"Michael would never say this, but I will," she said. "Winning the batting title meant a lot to him. Michael is kind of old school. He always minded his Ps and Qs, and he went through every level of the minors to get here. He sat on the bench; he played whatever position he was asked.

"Ever day he played was like an audition. That's how he felt, even if he'd never say it. For me, to see him with that batting title was sooo... wonderful. I was so proud of him to finally get that national recognition."

"I always wanted to be an artist, but I had absolutely zero talent. I couldn't draw. I couldn't color. I barely had enough talent to draw a stickman. So I think photography has allowed me to take the visions I had in my head and put them on paper," Michael said.

On road trips, while teammates are taking naps or watching movies in their hotel rooms, Cuddyer tours cities or goes to the ballpark early to take photos. His pictures of Dodger Stadium, for example, capture the park from the dugout to the Vin Scully Press Box to a panorama of Chavez Ravine.

"I think photography, and all of my other interests, have allowed me to excape, to get away from 'all baseball, all the time.' It's allowed me to be a dad and a better husband, hopefully."

Michael and Claudia have three children: son, Casey, born in June, 2008; and twin daughters, Chloe and Maddie, born early in 2011.

Claudia, a former high school teacher, has helped him form the charity Cheerful Givers, which gives birthday gifts to underprivileged children.

"Having a lot of interests, expanding my world, has allowed me not to take the highs and lows of my profession back to my family. And the thing is, being able to escape the game has made me a better man and a better baseball player," Cuddy said.

TRANSACTIONS

June 1997: The Twins chose Cuddyer in the first round, out of Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake, Virginia.

February 15, 2007: Michael and the Twins avoided salary arbitration, agreeing to a $3.575 million, one-year contract.

January 25, 2008: Cuddyer and the Twins agreed on a three-year, $24 million contract. It called for a $2.75 million signing bonus and salaries of $5 million for 2008, $6.75 million in 2009 and $8.5 million in 2010. Minnesota has a $10.5 million club option for 2011 with a $1 million buyout.

November 7, 2009: The Twins picked up the $10.5 million option on Mike for 2010.

December 16, 2012: Cuddyer and the Rockies reached agreement on a three-year contract worth $31.5 million. He gets $10.5 million each year. (The Twins reportedly had offered three years for $24 million.)

November 10, 2014: Cuddyer signed a two year, $21 million contract to play for the Mets. He gets $8.5 million in 2015 and $12.5 million in 2016.

Back in 2000, he finished his swing long and high and frequently put topspin on the ball. That cut down on the ball's carry and led to a lot of ground balls and a lot of double plays.

"I couldn't turn on an inside pitch, even if it was an 85 mph fastball," Mike said. But he got the loop out of his swing and now makes much more consistent contact because it is shorter and more compact. He has above-average bat speed.

Michael hits well in the clutch. 

HITTING FOR THE CYCLE

Cuddyer hit for the cycle on May 22, 2009 vs. the Brewers. He began his cycle with a three-run homer in the first inning off Brewers starter Manny Parra.

Michael led off the third inning with a ground-rule double to left-center field off Parra. He came up to bat again in the fourth inning right after Parra had exited and was replaced by righthander Mike DiFelice. Cuddyer added an RBI single to center field, capping a four-run inning for Minnesota.

That left him a triple short of the cycle. And in the sixth inning, in his fourth at-bat of the night, he delivered that triple with a grounder down the left-field line.

And when he hit two home runs in the same inning later in the 2009 season—on August 23, 2009—Cuddyer became the first guy in Major League history to hit for the cycle and hit two homers in the same inning in the same season.

August 17, 2014: Cuddyer became one of just 30 players in Major League history with two career cycles and the first player since Adrian Beltre to notch a pair. Three players (Babe Herman, Bob Meusel and John Reilly) have three cycles, but no one has accomplished that feat since 1933.

Along with John Olerud and Bob Watson, Cuddyer became the third player to hit for the cycle in both the National and American Leagues. Cuddyer also had a cycle for the Twins in 2009.

Michael's excellent 2013 season was due to his ability to forget the massive amount of information he had received in his 13 years in the Majors. Yes, he has seen numerous pitchers, learned from many instructors, and studied piles of scouting reports. The trick he has learned is he needs to forget most of that when he steps into the batter's box.

"You know that a lot of stuff is just wasted thoughts," Cuddyer said. "For me, you get the information you think you need. As you get older, you realize what information you can apply to your game and what you can't.

"As a younger guy, you get the scouting report and study the whole thing. Then you get in the box and you've got this overload of stuff in your head, and it's hard to sift through it all while still worrying about the most important thing. That's putting the bat on the ball."

Rockies hitting coach Dante Bichette said he sees himself in Cuddyer.

"He's been one of the most enjoyable guys to talk to, just on how to go after certain types of pitchers and how to sit on pitches, how to hit with two strikes, how to hit with men in scoring position," Bichette said. "We have a lot of the same views on how to get it done."

The key is versatility.

"He's of the mentality that, 'I might not get you the first at-bat or the second at-bat, but I'm going to get you,' " Bichette said. "Guys who think like that can make adjustments.

"Everybody talks about just one approach, and that's where hitting goes wrong. Everybody sticks to their approach. There's no perfect approach. There's always a hole in a certain approach. When pitchers figure that out, you've got to be able to change that approach." (Thomas Harding-MLB.com-6/23/13)

Cuddyer endeavors to make situational hitting simple.

"The thing I try to do is, if there's a guy in scoring position, I try to knock him in, and if they're not, I try to get in scoring position," Cuddyer said. "If you keep it that simple, it keeps you from trying to do too much."

Michael was chosen by friend David Wright to participate in the 2013 Home Run Derby.

Ironically, back in 2008, several Major Leaguers from the Virginia Beach area held a home-run-hitting contest to raise money for a new high school's baseball program.

David Wright, Ryan Zimmerman, Mark Reynolds, and the Upton brothers—B.J. and Justin—were among the participants, but none could beat Cuddyer.

"I won it. I beat those guys," Cuddyer said of the 2008 contest. "I don't know if that helped David's decision or not. "I'm excited. I can't tell you how excited I am. Being on the All-Star team is awesome and this is just icing on the cake for me."

Cuddyer was the 2013 National League batting champ with his .331 batting average. It was 60 points higher than his career average of .271 at the start of the '13 campaign. (The Braves' Chris Johnson was second, at .321.)

Michael's habit of dashing hard out of the batter's box always puts him in position to reach on infield balls.

"It's more singles—a lot more singles," explained Cuddyer, who had a club-record 27-game hit streak from May 28 to June 30. "I don't know what to attribute that to. It just happened. My approach didn't change. Nothing really changed. For some reason, I got more singles."

Cuddyer became the sixth Rockies player to win a batting title. He joins Andres Galarraga (1993), Larry Walker (1998-99, 2001), Todd Helton (2000), andCarlos Gonzalez(2010).

Asked about it after the game, manager Terry Collins remarked, when asked how long it took for the veteran infielder's leadership to show, "Minutes. He walked into the clubhouse with personality, with reputation, and the Latin guys flocked to him. They know him. They've heard of him. He's an outgoing guy. He's funny. He's a lot of fun to be around, and that stuff, people gravitate to those kind of guys."  (DiComo - mlb.com - 8/13/15)

"Scotty, look at my hand,'' Cuddyer said.

"Oh no!'' Ullger exclaimed.

The knuckle near the tip of Cuddyer's right index finger was pushed back and the tip of the finger was bent upward. Cuddyer could see his tendon. Five stitches at Hennepin County Medical Center closed the cut.

June 29-September 13, 2008: Michael was on the D.L. with a strained tendon in his left index finger. He was not sure how it happened, and played with it for at least two weeks, but when he was swinging at a pitch it sent him over the edge and onto the D.L.

October 2010: Cuddyer underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, which bothered him the whole season, though he missed only five games. He had the knee cleaned up.

February 26, 2011: A wart on the outer half of Michael's left foot kept him out of the early spring exhibition games. He was given a cream to remove the wart.

"A wart is a virus, without getting too much into the physiology of it," Cuddyer said. "Your antibodies don't see the virus because it is in the skin. You try to irritate the wart so it is in the body, so the antibodies can attack it and fight the virus off.

"The creme is supposed to irritate it enough to where the antibodies will see it and hopefully attack it."

The wart popped up around Thanksgiving in 2010. A dermitologist froze it two times, but it did not leave. It bothers him while trying to round the bases.

Finally, on March 1, Cuddyer had the plantar wart removed, sidelining him for another two weeks.

August 11, 2011: Cuddyer strained his neck during early batting practice and had an epidural to help calm down the herniation in his neck.

August 4-16, 2012: Michael was on the D.L. with a strained right oblique muscle.

August 18, 2012: Cuddyer re-injured the right oblique strain that put him on the disabled list on August 4. So Michael went back on the D.L. and missed the rest of the season.

"This time it was a little higher, and a way worse feeling," Cuddyer said. "This one hurts to breathe. It hurts to talk."

May 9-24, 2013: Cuddyer was on the D.L. with a bulging disk in his neck.

April 21-May 20, 2014: Michael was on the D.L with a strained left hamstring."Extremely frustrating," Cuddyer said of his balky hamstring, something he's never experienced before in his career. "This is nagging more than anything else."

The reigning NL batting champion estimated he could run at about 70 percent before the hamstring begins to act up.

"Obviously, you can't play like that," he said. "I don't know how long it's going to take."

Cuddyer was off to another hot start at the plate, too, hitting .317 with three homers and 10 RBIs.

June 6-August 16, 2014: Michael was on the D.L. with a strained left shoulder.  He started by wearing a sling as he recoverd from a non-displaced fracture in his left shoulder socket. The need for rehab kept him out of action until mid-August.

Keith Dugger, the Rockies' head athletic trainer, said the problem can't be repaired surgically because an operation would be too invasive, although he is soliciting various opinions.

August 24-Sept. 8, 2014: Cuddyer was back on the D.L. with a strained left hamstring.

July 23-Aug. 10, 2015: Michael was on the D.L. with an injured left knee he tried to play with. He finally gave in after three weeks.