The Seattle Mariners have made their first pile move of the 2025-26 offseason, inking veteran RHP Randy Dobnak to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
The 30 year old reliever has one of the more interesting pathways to the bigs you’ll find. The native Pennsylvanian is the first alumni of Division-II Alderson Broaddus University in Philippi, West Virginia to make the big leagues. He’s also the last, as the university shuttered in 2023 due to unresolvable financial difficulties. Most well-known for his mighty mustache upon debut in 2019, as well as having covered costs in his own life as a rideshare driver in the offseason, the undrafted sinker-baller has consistently run one of the highest groundball rates in affiliated baseball since entering the pros in 2017 with the Minnesota Twins. A revelation as a rookie for the 101-win Twins in 2019, Dobnak has been a swingman for most of his career, but after 21 big league starts through 2021, he’s been a pure reliever over the past two seasons.
That’s been a mild disappointment for all involved, as Dobnak signed a 5-year, $9.25m deal for the 2021 season, but injury and ineffectiveness kept the righty out of the bigs in 2022-23, and saw the Twins finally cut bait on him this season. He was picked up by the Detroit Tigers, who had him pitch capably in Triple-A Toledo. His sinker-slider combo is his primary pairing, with the heater averaging around 92 mph but showcasing extreme sink, thanks to his low release point that comes tight to his body, almost to give the appearance of pushing the ball as he pronates.
Dobnak throws his 84-86 mph changeup around a quarter of the time, which has immense drop as well, but because of his lesser velocity, it is a huge risk pitch if he misses in the zone. After years as a more distant secondary, Dobnak tried to use the cambio as his plurality pitch in 2024, but saw it absolutely clobbered, reducing him to an emergency role with the Twins. Now bearded to complement the ‘stache, Dobnak may try to find a sweeper in Seattle, as his slider has gone from a threat to a disaster-in-waiting over the past half decade. Both Seattle’s rotation and relief core have a bit more stability at in case of emergency with him in the fold. As a fun bit of fate, despite a 4.86/4.51 ERA/FIP in 140.2 IP as a big leaguer across five seasons, Dobnak has never faced the Seattle Mariners.
