St. Paul – The biggest news surrounding the St. Paul Saints this past Wednesday had nothing to do with their team. Instead, it was that their opponent, the Omaha Storm Chasers, had just acquired fan-favorite Randy Dobnak in a trade.
The Kansas City Royals acquired former Minnesota Twins starter and Mr. St. Paul Saint of the Triple-A era from the Seattle Mariners after Dobnak had enacted the upward mobility clause in his deal with Seattle.
Dobnak joined the Storm Chasers the next day at CHS Field, and Dobnak’s return was the talk of the ballpark. Almost every Saints employee heard about his return and had a chance to catch up with him before the game, except for the International Man of Mystery, Seigo Masubuchi.
Masubuchi went onto the visiting dugout of Thursday night’s doubleheader for his daily sing-along with the fans. Just before he worked his pipes up to sing, he heard his name called from the dugout by a familiar voice: Dobnak’s. It threw Masubuchi off for a moment, but he got back into the groove of Elton John’s Tiny Dancer.
“It’s Seigo, he just kind of does his own thing,” said Dobnak. “At first he waved at me, but I don’t think he really realized it was me.”
A lot has happened with the Dobnak family since he was last in Minnesota nearly a year ago. He and his wife, Ariel, welcomed a second daughter, Ripken, into the world, making their eldest daughter, River, a happy big sister.
Dobnak got the start for the Storm Chasers the next night and received the red carpet treatment, Saints style. He had a video tribute up on the board with John Denver’s Country Roads blaring over the loudspeakers as it had for each of his starts at CHS Field before. He even had a game of tic-tac-toe awaiting him on the mound from friend and former teammate Aaron Rozek, who pitched against him that night.
“It was pretty cool to see,” said Dobnak. “I wish my wife was here to see it, but she’s busy at home with the kids. Got a two-and-a-half-year-old and a half-year-old. It’s fun.”
“It was awesome,” Rozek said, pitching against his friend for the first time. “I mean, we played a game of tic-tac-toe on the back of the mound, came out tied, so that’s unfortunate. But hopefully we get to play another game.”
The Saints’ lineup gave Dobnak trouble immediately, with Alan Roden and Gabby Gonzalez getting back-to-back singles off him. Matt Wallner came up next and hit into a fielder’s choice that got Gonzalez out at third. However, he left runners on the corner for Aaron Sabato.
Sabato is one of four Saints hitters on their active roster – along with Noah Cardenas, Matt Wallner, and Tanner Schobel – who were teammates with Dobnak in St. Paul before he and Chris Paddack were traded to the Detroit Tigers for Enrique Jimenez last July. Following the trade, the Saints faced Dobnak three times, all in Toledo. So, this time around, it was a bit odd to see him on the CHS Field mound for the other team.
Sabato fell behind Dobnak on a 1-2 count, and what happened next has been described in various ways by the parties involved. Dobnak threw a slider down the upper, middle part of the plate, and Sabato drilled it 101.8 MPH off the bat to the left field lawn for a 3-run home run.
“That might have been the worst pitch I’ve ever thrown in my life,” Dobnak said. “They say sometimes games are determined by one pitch, and that’s part of it. It was the right pitch, bad spot. I think if I threw it, not a down-the-middle slider, I’d probably get him out.”
After Zone Coverage told Sabato how Dobnak described his pitch, Sabato just laughed, “I think that’s the best pitch he’s ever thrown in his career. I mean, yeah, he threw some good pitches against me, and kind of left one up with two strikes and just took advantage of it.”
To provide a more balanced view on whether the pitch was the best or worst of Dobnak’s pro-ball career, Rozek shared perspectives from Sabato’s and Dobnak’s points of view.
“As a Saints fan and a teammate of Aaron Sabato, I’m very happy he made the worst pitch of his life in that situation,” said Rozek. “That was super cool to see. As a friend of Randy Dobnak, I think he’s probably thrown worse, but you never know.”
Dobnak got out of the inning without allowing more damage and almost had the thought of walking back to the Saints’ dugout out of habit. He’d finish the night going 4 ⅓ innings, allowed six hits, one walk, and struck out five, including Sabato the next time he faced him after the home run.
It was a solid performance for a pitcher who had just left the Pacific Coast League, baseball’s hellscape for pitchers. Fortunately, Dobank played in Tacoma, one of the more pitcher-friendly fields. He has held his own, posting a 4.24 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 12.8% strikeout rate, and 7.8% walk rate.
However, his ground-ball rate made him a standout in the PCL, at 59.3% on the season. If he were in the majors this season, it would lead all qualified starters. Pitching to his greatest strength throughout his career has helped Dobank survive in the PCL and return to the International League.
“I think the big thing is just location-wise, mixing everything consistently,” he said. “Not really leaving stuff up too much. Obviously, that happened once today. I don’t know really, exactly what it is. I think I’m just locating better, mixing better, a little bit more, less predictable.”
With a successful season under his belt, Dobnak is looking forward to the opportunity to return to the majors with the Royals later this season. And having a pit stop along the way back in the stomping grounds he’s most famous for, made for an incredibly fun weekend for him. It was also a pleasant surprise for Saints players, coaches, and employees.
“It was sick, it was sick to see,” Rozek said. “I think it would have been sad to see if they didn’t play his video, and I don’t even know what kind of shade they put over it, but it was very fun. That was fun to see.”
“I mean, Randy’s awesome,” said Sabato. “He’s an unbelievable baseball player, but just a tremendous human being. I mean, being his teammate was awesome. Last year, he was buying cold brew like a cold brew press for us and had it filled. Even when he got traded, he kept it going for the whole year. Just a testament to who he is.”
