One of the best stories of the 2019 Major League Baseball season took place in Minnesota, as Randy Dobnak went from a relative unknown to starting Game Two of the American League Divisional Series.
How Dobnak went from pitching at a small Division II school in West Virginia, to playing in an Independent League in Michigan, and even driving for Uber (4.99/5.00 rating per his Twitter) to being on baseball’s grandest stage makes for a great story. Fortunately, I was recently able to spend some time with Randy as he was working out with some local college players at our high school field. Afterwards he gave me the opportunity to hear some of it in his own words.
Coming out of Alderson Broaddus in 2016, a college with around 2,300 students, it would be easy to see why Dobnak might have been overlooked. However, to him, he wouldn’t trade his time there for anything. “Alderson Broaddus was the only school to offer me out of high school. They took a chance on me, and my four years there were awesome. The guys I played with. I met my wife there. I graduated,” says Dobnak.
He went on to tell me the only reason he got a shot to play pro ball was because his catcher in college had a connection to an Independent League team in Michigan: His dad was the coach.
“I talked to a lot of scouts, but ultimately when no one drafted me, his dad called after the draft and told me he had a spot for me. I told him I’d be there the next day. I pitched for him for four or five weeks and then got the call from the Twins,” says Dobnak.
From there it was on to the Twins rookie league affiliate in the Appalachian League. Eventually he was promoted to Cedar Rapids where he finished 2017 and spent all of 2018, winning 10 games and throwing 129 innings in the process.
He went into last year with plans on continuing to move up the organizational ladder. What happened, however, was nothing short of a meteoric rise.
“Last year was insane. Coming out of Spring Training, I was just looking to break camp with the team. Whether it was Low-A, High-A. Whatever,” Dobank said.
In what was just his third year of professional baseball, Dobnak went 12-4 across three minor league levels for the Twins posting a 2.07 ERA over 135 innings. Statistically, he was the organization’s most effective minor league arm. He knew early in the year he was throwing well but his expectations were still modest.
“After the first month I was throwing pretty well. I told my wife, I’ll just be down here in Fort Myers the whole year. That’s how it was the year prior. I was in Low-A the whole year. I’ll just move up slowly and see what happens,” said Dobnak.
But the Twins had other plans. Because he was pitching so well, he was on the move. As Dobnak tells it, it wasn’t long before he was in Triple-A: “Sure enough, after one month I got bumped up to AA and then a month later I got moved up to Triple-A in what was supposed to be a spot start. I ended up being there for a month because someone got hurt.”
Dobnak had to deal with the emotional toll of being promoted and demoted but he was never deterred. In fact, he simplified his approach and went with what has always worked. “It was a rollercoaster where I was but what I’ve always done was just go out and be consistent every time I go on the mound and it’s worked out for me,” Dobnak said.
When I asked him what it was like to get the call, he said he, “had a weird feeling in my stomach that day,” because he had seen teammates be called up and then sent back down. “I was up there and saw guys go up and down. Saw guys get their first shot when I was there. The way the situation is, they get called up to go pitch. They throw five innings because they need an arm and then they send them back to Triple-A,” says Dobnak.
Still, he hadn’t thrown in about a week and he was due for a start. Sitting on the couch in Rochester clubhouse, manager Joel Skinner summoned Dobnak to his office, where the Twins minor league director and assistant director were waiting for him.
“You’re going to the big leagues.”
Asked about his initial reaction, Dobnak said it was like, “Oh ****. This is real!” but that he kept his emotions in check. This is what he had worked his whole life for and now it was time to realize a dream. He said one of the biggest things he thought was, “Don’t mess up.”
Once there, he didn’t pitch the first game but on August 9, 2019 he made his debut against Cleveland. He entered the game in the 6th inning after the Indians had taken a 6-1 lead but proceeded to toss four innings of shutout baseball. Despite that outing, he was optioned back to Rochester a week later without seeing an appearance in another game. To his credit, Dobnak took it in stride as he knew he was brought up to do a job.
“Guys go up there. [Minnesota’s] losing a game and don’t want to waste the bullpen arms so they use the long relief guys that are basically starters,” Dobnak said. “I ended up going four innings to finish the game and stuck around for another week but didn’t get in. They optioned me back down for 12 days.”
He got called back up on Aug.27 and was there to stay. He earned his first big league win against Kansas City, and then finished the regular season picking up another win against Detroit. He ended the year with a 1.59 ERA over 28.1 major league innings and, ultimately, made the playoff roster where he made his only appearance in Yankee Stadium.
“That was wild. You think of postseason baseball, you think of Yankee Stadium. It’s like the pinnacle of postseason baseball, so to get my first (postseason) start there, it was pretty surreal. Pretty awesome,” Dobnak said.
Much like when he made his big-league debut, Dobnak tried to keep things simple. He said he wasn’t nervous because once the first pitch is thrown, it’s the same game he has played his whole life. “There’s more people here, and more lights but it’s the same game, so I try to go out and control what I can,” Dobnak told me. “That’s how I’ve always tried to simplify it. Sure, there’s a lot of people in huge stadiums, and everyone you face is the best of the best, but they have you there for a reason. If your stuff is good enough and you trust yourself, you can go out there and do the job.”
The last year for Dobnak has been quite the whirlwhind. He even managed to get married in the middle of the 2019 season, meaning he had the added challenge of balancing being a husband with being a professional baseball player. As you can might imagine, he took it all in stride.
“For us, it’s been kind of easy because we have always been long-distance. She graduated and I was at AB for three more years so we weren’t together all the time,” says Dobnak. “Baseball has always been part of our lives. Being apart isn’t ideal but we can deal with it.”
For his part, he is still adjusting to the idea of being a major leaguer. Something, he says, that might not ever fully set in. “When my wife got to Minneapolis, after the first game in the hotel room we kind of looked at each other and said, ‘Do you realize what just happened?’ Even now she says all the time, ‘You’re a big leaguer.’ And I’m like, wow you’re right. I guess I am. I don’t know if it has ever set in or if it ever will,” Dobnak said.
As for what is in store for this year, Dobnak was in a fight for the final rotation spot with the Twins during Spring Training. When he got home from Fort Myers, he made plans to work out at a local high school, and he’s been able to work out with Beau Lowery of WVU, Chase Delauter of James Madison, and even found time to throw against Yankees farmhand, and WVU product, Chase Illig. Dobnak says there was an adjustment, but being able to throw live has proven to be beneficial to everyone involved.
“I’ve been throwing live against a bunch of college kids who are home, and they are going to be playing summer ball so they can get in their work. It helps me too, because I can see a live situation which is a lot different than just throwing to a catcher.”
For Dobnak, he’s been able to give some feedback when working with these younger guys, something he says is “pretty cool.” Despite the fact he doesn’t fancy himself as a pitching coach or, in his words, a “pitching guru”, he says he is trying to give as much feedback as he can. Anything to help them get better.
“The way I throw is so much different than anybody else, but I try to give as much feedback as I can and hopefully it helps. It’s nice being able to work with them though.”
Randy was gracious enough to spend almost 45 minutes with me. As we talked, I was struck by how easy going and regular he was. He shared some experiences with me of signing balls for kids before games and how he tries to have a good time with them. He also told me most big leaguers are, in fact, regular guys. When we wrapped up, I felt like I had known him for 20 years. I wish I could have talked with him for another hour.
I can’t predict where he will slot in for the Twins, but I am certain of this much with Randy Dobnak: No matter his role, he will be effective. On the day I saw him work out, his stuff was really good. He was sitting around 94 and his offspeed stuff had hard bite. His delivery helps him hide the ball which contributes to how well he limits hard contact.
That said, as effective and impressive as Dobnak has been, it pales in comparison to the type of person he is. I will be watching him with increased interest this year, as he was a pretty easy guy to root for given his background. After spending some time with him, I will be making it a point to watch each of his starts.
Finally, I asked Randy about his prediction for the Twins this year: “We have a lot of guys coming back. A lot of our power hitters are back. Picking up a guy like (Josh) Donaldson and we added some pitching so I feel like we’ve only gotten stronger. It’s nice to have guys you can trust, plus on the offensive side they are capable of putting up four or five runs in an inning so that helps,” Dobnak said.
“I think we will win the division again,” he said with a smile.