Randy Travis William Dobnak (born January 17, 1995) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

in the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

organization. Listed at and , he throws and bats right-handed.

Career

Dobnak attended South Park High School in

South Park Township, Pennsylvania South Park Township is a township in the southern part of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, near Pittsburgh. The population was 13,416 at the 2010 census. A large portion of the township consists of a county park of the same name. ...

. Dobnak attended

Alderson Broaddus University Alderson Broaddus University (AB) is a private Baptist university in Philippi, West Virginia. It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. It was formed in 1932 as Alderson–Broaddus College by the union of two Baptist institutions: ...

Philippi, West Virginia Philippi ('FILL-uh-pea') is a city in and the county seat of Barbour County, West Virginia, Barbour County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 2,928 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. In 1861, the city was the site of the ...

, where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

for the Battlers.

Utica Unicorns

Dobnak went undrafted out of college in 2017 and played for the Utica Unicorns of the

United Shore Professional Baseball League The United Shore Professional Baseball League (USPBL) is an independent baseball league in suburban Metro Detroit, Michigan, United States, started in May 2016. Each team in the USPBL plays a 42-game regular season schedule from May through Septem ...

. Dobnak had previously caught the attention of Utica manager

Jim Essian James Sarkis Essian, Jr. (born January 2, 1951) is an American former professional baseball player, coach, and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a catcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics, Sea ...

when Dobnak played with Essian's son as a freshman and sophomore at Alderson Broaddus. Dobnak recorded a 3-0 record and 2.31 ERA in 6 appearances with Utica.

Minnesota Twins

On August 1, 2017, Dobnak signed a minor league contract, receiving a signing bonus of $500, with the

off the strength of

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

videos of his outings - the Twins never scouted him in person. He played for the

Elizabethton Twins The Elizabethton Twins were a Minor League Baseball team of the Appalachian League and a Rookie-level affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. They were located in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and were named for their major league affiliate. The team playe ...

and the

Cedar Rapids Kernels The Cedar Rapids Kernels are Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. They are located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and play their home games at Veterans Memorial Stadium. The Kernels are owned ...

in 2017, combining to go 2–0 with a 2.43

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

in 33 innings. In 2018, Dobnak returned to Cedar Rapids, going 10–5 with a 3.14 ERA in 129 innings. In 2019, Dobnak began the season with the

Class A-Advanced High-A (officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing) is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A and Double-A, and abov ...

Fort Myers Miracle The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. They are located in Fort Myers, Florida, and play their home games at the Lee County Sports Complex a ...

, then advanced to the Double-A

Pensacola Blue Wahoos The Pensacola Blue Wahoos are a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League and the Double-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. They are based in Pensacola, Florida, and play their home games at Admiral Fetterman Field. In 2012, the team rel ...

, and the Triple-A

Rochester Red Wings The Rochester Red Wings are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Rochester, New York, and play their home games at Innovative Field ...

. With those three teams in 2019, he compiled an overall 12–4 record with 2.07 ERA in 24 games (21 starts), while striking out 109 batters in 135 innings. On August 8, 2019, the Twins selected Dobnak's contract and promoted him to the major leagues. He made his debut on August 9, pitching four scoreless innings in relief. With the 2019 Twins, Dobnak was 2–1 with one save and a 1.59 ERA in nine appearances (five starts), while striking out 23 in innings. He was included on the Twins' postseason roster, and started game 2 of the ALDS against the Yankees. With the 2020 Minnesota Twins, Dobnak appeared in 10 games, compiling a 6-4 record with 4.05 ERA and 27 strikeouts in innings pitched. On March 28, 2021, Dobnak and the Twins agreed to a five-year, $9.25MM extension that included three club option years with escalators that can bring the total amount up to $29.75MM. On July 17, Dobnak was placed on the 60-day injured list with a finger strain. On September 1, Dobnak was activated off of the injured list. On March 21, 2022, Dobnak was placed on the 60-day injured list with discomfort in his right middle finger, the same finger in which he had suffered a strain in the year before. On September 14, 2022, the Twins placed Dobnak on outright waivers and he was sent to Triple-A.

Personal life

According to his

LinkedIn LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job se ...

profile, Dobnak has been driving for

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), package ...

and

Lyft Lyft, Inc. offers mobility as a service, ride-hailing, vehicles for hire, motorized scooters, a bicycle-sharing system, rental cars, and food delivery in the United States and select cities in Canada. Lyft sets fares, which vary using a dynamic ...

since October 2017 — and he's an excellent driver with a "4.99/5 Uber driver rating," his

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

profile reads. "I have all five star

eviews EViews is a statistical package for Microsoft Windows, Windows, used mainly for time-series oriented econometrics, econometric analysis. It is developed by Quantitative Micro Software (QMS), now a part of IHS Inc., IHS. Version 1.0 was released ...

except for one," Dobnak told

MLB.com MLB.com is the official site of Major League Baseball and is overseen by Major League Baseball Advanced Media, L.P. (a subsidiary of MLB). MLB.com is a source of baseball-related information, including baseball news, statistics, and sports column ...

in August 2019. "I have one four-star. I'm hoping it was a mistake. I don't remember doing anything bad." Dobnak and Aerial Munson were married on September 28, 2019, in Maryland. When Twins fans began sharing the link to Dobnak and Munson's

wedding registry A bridal registry or wedding registry is a service provided by a website or retail store that assists engaged couples in the communication of gift preferences to wedding guests. Selecting items from store stock, the couple lists desired items and ...

online, the couple directed fans to instead donate to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, raising over $4,000 for the hospital. Dobnak grew up as a

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

fan, attending Opening Day annually and estimates having gone to over 150 games at

PNC Park PNC Park is a baseball stadium on the North Shore (Pittsburgh), North Shore of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the fifth home of the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB). It was opened during the 2001 Major League Baseball season, ...

. He pitched at PNC Park for the first time on August 5, 2020, where he pitched 6 shutout innings and earned the victory in a 5-2 Twins win. Dobnak is an lifelong fan and player of the

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

massively multiplayer online role-playing game A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

(MMORPG)

RuneScape ''RuneScape'' is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Jagex, released in January 2001. ''RuneScape'' was originally a browser game built with the Java programming language; it was large ...

Legacy

Dobnak is regarded as one of the greatest players in USPBL history. Out of a total of 36 USPBL alumni who have signed with MLB organizations, Dobnak is the only player to have reached the major league level. Dobnak's signing by longtime Twins scout Billy Milos marked a shift in the way the organization approached scouting

independent baseball league An independent baseball league is a professional baseball organization in the United States or Canada that is not overseen by Major League Baseball and is outside the Minor League Baseball clubs affiliated to it. The Northern League and Frontie ...

players. Milos never watched Dobnak pitch in person at the time of his signing, solely watching

videos filmed by Dobnak's father.

References

External links

Alderson Broaddus Battlers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobnak, Randy 1995 births Living people Alderson Broaddus Battlers baseball players Baseball players from Pennsylvania Cedar Rapids Kernels players Elizabethton Twins players Fort Myers Miracle players Lyft people Major League Baseball pitchers Minnesota Twins players People from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Pensacola Blue Wahoos players Rochester Red Wings players Sportspeople from the Pittsburgh metropolitan area Fort Myers Mighty Mussels players