Twins Rookie Randy Dobnak Drove for Uber This Year, Now Starting vs. Yankees

The Minnesota Twins announced rookie Randy Dobnak will be the team's starting pitcher for Game 2 of the 2019 American League Division Series against the New York Yankees on Saturday.

A postseason start at Yankee Stadium is the latest eye-opening stop on a whirlwind journey for Dobnak, who spent last winter as an Uber driver. He proudly boasts about his near-perfect 4.99 Uber rating on his official Twitter page.

ESPN's Joon Lee provided comments from the 24-year-old Pennsylvania native, who's also just one week removed from getting married.

"It's been the greatest week of my life," Dobnak said. "Got married, clinching the game and now a postseason start. I don't think it's going to get any better than this."

Dobnak posted a 1.59 ERA and 1.13 WHIP with 23 strikeouts in 28.1 innings across nine appearances (five starts) for the Twins this season. He compiled a 2.07 ERA across three levels of the minor leagues before getting called up to the majors in August.

Along with those terrific numbers, manager Rocco Baldelli pointed to the right-hander's 52.9 percent ground-ball rate as a key reason to start him against the hard-hitting Yankees on the road, per Lee.

"It's a fine line. It was not an obvious move in any way," Baldelli said. "I think in this ballpark, the guy that throws the ball, keeps it on the ground pretty well, was a good guy to look to. [Dobnak] has been throwing the ball great for us, so I thought it made sense."

New York, which took Game 1 by a 10-4 score, will send Masahiro Tanaka to the mound.

A shutdown outing by Dobnak would add another chapter to his amazing rise over the past 12 months.