MLB

South Park native Randy Dobnak, Twins agree to 5-year deal

Associated Press
Monday, March 29, 2021 2:54 p.m. | Monday, March 29, 2021 2:54 p.m.

Minnesota Twins pitcher Randy Dobnak throws during the first inning of a spring training baseball game against the Boston Red Sox on Thursday, March 25, 2021, in Fort Myers, Fla.

Minnesota Twins pitcher Randy Dobnak works in the first inning of a spring training baseball game against the Boston Red Sox on Thursday, March 25, 2021, in Fort Myers, Fla.

Minnesota Twins pitcher Randy Dobnak works in the second inning of a spring training game against the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday, March 13, 2021, in Port Charlotte, Fla.

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Twins signed right-hander Randy Dobnak to a $9.25 million, five-year contract that includes three club options to extend and increase the deal with the overachieving former ride-share driver.

Dobnak went 6-4 with a 4.05 ERA in 10 starts last season, before hitting a slump and being sent to the team’s alternate training site.

The bespectacled, mustachioed 26-year-old became a cult hero after his major league debut in 2019, when he wound up starting a postseason game at Yankee Stadium. Dobnak went undrafted out of an NCAA Division II program, Alderson Broaddus in West Virginia, and was pitching in an obscure independent league in Michigan when the Twins discovered him. To make ends meet along his way up the ladder, Dobnak was an Uber driver during his spare time.

He will be the team’s primary long reliever to start, essentially the sixth starter behind José Berríos, Kenta Maeda, Matt Shoemaker, Michael Pineda and J.A. Happ.