Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs poised to face longtime pal in first start

In his first start of the 2017 season, Angels left-hander Tyler Skaggs will face the major league hitter he believes knows him best.

For seven years now, Skaggs has spent his offseasons training with Oakland third baseman Trevor Plouffe at Pepperdine University. Twice, Plouffe has stood in the batter’s box for Skaggs’ first bullpen session of a new year. On Thursday afternoon at the Oakland Coliseum, they’ll face each other on a major league field for the first time.

“I know him, and I know how he thinks,” said Plouffe, a longtime Minnesota Twin and Crespi graduate who signed with Oakland in January to take over third base.

Plouffe said he does not believe he has gained much of an understanding of Skaggs’ pitches.

“I don’t know him as a pitcher,” he said. “I know his work ethic, I know the drive that he has, the competitiveness. Those are the things that I know of him. Obviously I know what he throws and how he tries to approach the game, but I think I’ll know a lot more after Thursday.”

Told the gist of what his friend said, Skaggs laughed, intimating that Plouffe was downplaying the depth of what he has picked up. They effectively grew up together in this sport.

“As far as the kind of person he is, he’s a worker, and that’s something that I don’t know you could have said early, early on, when I first met him, when he was 18,” Plouffe said. “You can’t really say that about too many people at that age. But he has made himself into that guy.”

Plouffe said Pepperdine’s weight room is too small for all the players who work out there, including Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun, to lift together. So, as a prospect, Skaggs went in after the big leaguers, working in solitude for several winters.

“He paid his dues, and eventually he came in and started working out with us,” Plouffe said. “As soon as he started working out with us, we realized that he was a special talent and a guy that was going to make us better.”

Both men have experienced analogous instances in the past. As he rode the bus to his first start since Tommy John surgery during 2016 spring training, Skaggs texted his friend and former teammate, Matt Davidson, whom he knew he’d face that day. He told Davidson his curveball was feeling particularly good, and then struck him out on three consecutive fastballs.

“I knew I got into his head,” Skaggs said then.

In Detroit last season, Plouffe batted against his friend and longtime Twins teammate Mike Pelfrey for the first time. He saw Pelfrey, then pitching for the Tigers, holding back a smile on the mound while he notched two singles in three at-bats.

“You’re trying to be very competitive up there, but there are times that it is just a game again, and those are the real moments,” Plouffe said. “You’re like, ‘Dang, I’m facing my buddy. This is fun.’ ”

Both men expect something similar to begin around Thursday’s second inning.

“I think it’s going to be a challenge for both of us,” Plouffe said. “Either way, we’re going to have fun with it.”

Short hops

The two last cuts from the Angels’ opening-day roster, right-handers Austin Adams and Kirby Yates, have both cleared waivers and been assigned to triple-A Salt Lake. …Catcher Carlos Perez will make his first start of the season Thursday, Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said.

pedro.moura@latimes.com

Twitter: @pedromoura