Five minutes with Cameron Rupp

Playing at: Lakewood (A)

Position: Catcher.

Height: 6-1. Weight: 240.

Age: 22.

Born: Sept. 28, 1988, in Plano, Texas.

Bats: Right. Throws: Right.

College: Texas.

How obtained: Drafted in the third round (No. 108 overall) last June.

This season: Hitting .212 with just one homer and nine RBI in 36 games. Hit .218 with Williamsport (A) last season, so he's going to have to improve his offense.

Early shower: Was ejected from a game (by umpire Jose Esteras) for what he says was the first time in his life on May 14. Rupp was tossed after getting thrown out at home by Nationals uber-prospect Bryce Harper.

Proudest athletic moment: Hit the game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth to beat Arizona State and send Texas to the 2009 College World Series.

Most disappointing athletic moment: "Losing to LSU in the national championship that same year," he said. "I don't cry much, but I cried my eyes out there."

Texas strong: Is a big, rugged kid who was recruited by Iowa to play football. But once the Longhorns showed interest, his mind was made up.

Quotable: "As soon as Texas offered, that was where I was going. It didn't matter if they wanted me to walk-on, I was still going."

Person he'd most like to meet: Pudge Rodriguez.

Most famous people in his phone: Colt McCoy and Brett Hull. McCoy is a fellow Longhorn alum. Rupp met Hull, who won a Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars in 1999, through a mutual friend. "I haven't talked to him in a few years. He's up there [in prominence], even though it's hockey and not many people pay attention to hockey anymore." Give him a break, Flyers fans. He's from Texas.

Mission statement: Was part of a missionary group that visited the roughest parts of Panama. Says the most difficult part was seeing "all the little kids running around in bare feet with no shoes in 120-degree weather. Growing up here [in the United States], everybody's got shoes."

- Ed Barkowitz