Allan Christopher Dykstra (born May 21, 1987) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman who played for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2015. He was the starting first baseman for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons during his college career, and was drafted 23rd overall by the San Diego Padres in the first round of the

2008 Major League Baseball Draft The 2008 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft continued Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft of high school and college baseball players, and was held on June 5 and 6, 2008. First round selections ;Key Supplemental first rou ...

Early years

He is not related to former Mets and Phillies player Lenny Dykstra. Dykstra was a member of the San Diego Stars 12U team that won 1999 AAU national championships. In 2001, he played for 14U team USA at the Pan-American games in Honduras. He played for Sam Blalock at Rancho Bernardo High School where he helped take the team to the Palomar League Championship. He was selected to the 30 man trials for 18-and-under Junior National Team in 2004 and attended the Perfect Game Western Underclass Showcase where he was rated the number two prospect. In the

2005 Major League Baseball Draft The 2005 First-Year Player Draft, Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft, was held on June 7 and 8. It was conducted via conference call with representatives from each of the league's 30 teams. It is widely considered to be one of the best ...

, Dykstra was drafted in the 34th round by the Boston Red Sox.

College career

Dykstra played college baseball at Wake Forest University for coach

Rick Rembielak Richard A. Rembielak is an American college baseball coach, who most recently served as the head coach of the Akron Zips from the 2012 through the 2015 season. As of the end of the 2014 season, his career head coaching record is 574–490–1 ...

while majoring in business. Dykstra won a multitude of awards in his freshman season including being named

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

(ACC) rookie of the year and named to the ACC all-academic team. Dykstra was named freshman All-American by rivals.com, Louisville Slugger, and

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level, including MLB, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB, college, high school, and international leagues. It is currently published in the form o ...

. He was selected to the Dick Howser Trophy watch list and the 2006 Pepsi Baseball Classic All-tournament team. Statistically, Dykstra led the team in

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

, RBIs,

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

base on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

, sacrifice flies and tied for the lead in starts. In 2007, Dykstra was named to the All-ACC academic team and second team All-ACC. He was named a Golden Spikes Award finalist along with being named to the midseason watch list for the

Brooks Wallace Award The Brooks Wallace Award is an award given by the College Baseball Foundation (CBF) to the best college baseball shortstop of the year. The award has been given annually since 2004. Until 2008 the award was presented to the nation's most outstandi ...

. Dykstra tied for first in home runs, and ending in the top ten of base on balls, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, RBIs and total bases. In that same year, Dykstra helped lead Wake Forest Baseball to
2007 NCAA Regional
in Austin, Texas. In 2006 and 2007, Dykstra played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the Chatham A's of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

. He hit .308/.444/.481 for Chatham in 2007, and was eighth in the league in average, third in RBIs (31) and third in OBP. He made the CCBL All-Star team at designated hitter. Baseball America named him the No. 16 prospect in the Cape Cod League.

Professional career

San Diego Padres

Dykstra was drafted 23rd overall in the 2008 MLB Draft by the San Diego Padres. Dykstra signed a contract with the Padres on August 15, 2008, just before the deadline to sign draft picks.

New York Mets

Allan Dykstra during his tenure with the Binghamton Mets in 2013

The Padres traded Dykstra to the New York Mets in exchange for RHP

Eddie Kunz Edward Cory Kunz (born April 8, 1986) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets. Early life and amateur career Kunz was born in Portland, Oregon. He attended Parkrose Hig ...

on March 29, 2011. Dykstra was named the 2013 Eastern League Most Valuable Player after hitting .274 (102–372) with 22 doubles, 21 home runs, 82 RBIs and 56 runs scored. He led the EL in on-base percentage (.436), walks (102) and OPS (.938) and slugging percentage (.503). Dykstra was also tied for fifth in home runs and fourth in RBIs. His on-base percentage was the highest in the Eastern League since 2006 and his walk rate (21.1) was also the highest in the EL since 2006. He was selected to the Eastern League postseason All-Star team and was the starting first baseman for the EL All-Star Game on July 10. At the conclusion of the season, Dykstra was named Sterling Minor League Organizational Co-Players of the Year (along with catcher

Kevin Plawecki Kevin Jeffrey Plawecki (; born February 26, 1991) is an American professional baseball catcher who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets, Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox and Texas Ranger ...

Tampa Bay Rays

After the 2014 season, Dykstra was granted free agency and signed with the Tampa Bay Rays. Despite not making the Opening Day roster, Dykstra was called up to the big leagues for the first time on April 8, 2015, to replace injured James Loney. On April 17, 2015, with his father in the stands, Dykstra hit his first Major League home run, a three-run shot, off of Adam Warren of the New York Yankees. Dykstra was designated for assignment by the Rays on April 25, 2015. He was released by the Rays on June 26, 2015.

Sugar Land Skeeters

After being released by the Rays, Dykstra signed with the Sugar Land Skeeters in the

Atlantic League of Professional Baseball The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) is a professional independent baseball league based in the United States. It is an official MLB Partner League based in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States. The Atlantic League's ...

. Dykstra became a free agent after the 2016 season. He retired in the offseason.

Personal life

Dykstra's younger brother, James, also plays professional baseball, and is currently a member of the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dykstra, Allan 1987 births Living people Tampa Bay Rays players Wake Forest Demon Deacons baseball players Chatham Anglers players Binghamton Mets players Fort Wayne TinCaps players Lake Elsinore Storm players St. Lucie Mets players Las Vegas 51s players Navegantes del Magallanes players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Major League Baseball first basemen Baseball players from San Diego Sugar Land Skeeters players Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks players Rancho Bernardo High School alumni