Twins select contract of Randy Dobnak

The Minnesota Twins announced last night that they had sent Kohl Stewart down to the Rochester Red Wings last night after pitching three innings in yesterday’s loss to the Atlanta Braves. That move left the Twins with an open bullpen spot, and was rumored to be filled by a new face to the 40-man roster.

Those rumors were confirmed as the Twins have officially announced within the hour that they have selected the contract of righty Randy Dobnak. According to Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors, Dobnak has had quite the history of making it through the minor-league system. He was undrafted out of college and then was playing with the Utica Unicorns of the indy-league United Shore League when he was signed by the Twins in 2017. He started in rookie-level ball and now less than two years later, he’s made it to the big-leagues.

Dobnak, who will wear number 68, has pitched almost exclusively as a starting pitcher, so his part in the pen may ideally be a long-man role in order to save the bullpen or pitch extra innings, which - as we have seen the past two days - is a need for the Twins ‘pen. Part of that rapid rise to the majors included pitching in three levels this year - High-A Fort Myers, AA Pensacola, and AAA Rochester. He’s started five games with the Red Wings, and in seven total appearances, he’s posted a 2.00 ERA in 36.0 innings of work, allowing only eight earned runs. Over the whole season between the three levels, he has a 2.02 ERA over 125.0 innings of work, allowing only 28 earned runs with a WHIP of only 0.976 and a K/BB ratio of 4.25.

Welcome to the big-leagues and good luck, Dobnak!