Brian Dinkelman was called up last night following the Minnesota Twins game against Kansas City. Trevor Plouffe* was sent down to Triple A Rochester and Joe Mauer was moved from the 15-day DL to the 60-day DL to make room for him on the 40-man roster.
*Trevor hit .200/.310/.383 (AVG/OBP/SLG) with 3 HRs, 10 RBIs and 1 stolen base. He also had 8 walks and 12 strikeouts in the 18 games he was with the Twins. He struggled in the field with 3 errors. He was 1 for 24 in his last 8 games. We’ll probably see him back at some point.
Brian has played second base and left field for the Twins Triple A affiliate Rochester Red Wings. He’s played some shortstop as well but only 14 games at the High-A and AA levels in 2008. Since then he’s pretty much split time between second base and a corner outfield spot.
Brian Dinkelman is 27 years old, stands at 5’11”, 195 pounds, bats left and throws right. Brian was drafted in the 8th round of the 2006 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of McKendree College of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). He still holds 24 school records for his career including batting average (.426), runs scored (303)*, hits (373)*, doubles (96)*, home runs (59) and total bases (670)*. He was the 2nd player ever drafted out of McKendree College at the time and the 1st to make it all the way to the major leagues! Two more players have been drafted out of McKendree College since 2006.
*These are all NAIA career records as well and he also holds the record for most career assists (679).
Brian Dinkelman follows Jeff Manship, Danny Valencia and Anthony Slama as players to play for the Twins who were taken in the 2006 draft. Brian started at rookie level Elizabethton in 2006 and hit .298 with 4 HRs and 32 RBIs. He has consistently moved up the organizational ladder since then playing in Beloit (A) and Fort Myers (High-A) in 2007 and in Fort Myers and New Britain (AA) in 2008.
In 2009, Brian played the whole season in AA New Britain hitting for a .296/.383/.440 line with 38 doubles, 8 HRs and 65 RBIs with 55 walks and 73 strikeouts in 459 at-bats. He stole 5 bases on 11 attempts. He played 80 games at second base, 40 in left field and 4 in right field. He was named an Eastern League All Star, EAS Post-Season All-Star (as a utility player) and Can’t Beat Bernie’s Player of the Year (Favorite New Britain Rock Cats Player by fan vote) that season.
In 2010, Brian moved up another level to the Triple A Rochester Red Wings and played the whole season there. He struggled a little, only hitting for a .265/.336/.379 line. He had 32 doubles, 8 HRs and 54 RBIs with 52 walks and 99 strikeouts in 525 at-bats. He stole 9 bases on 13 attempts and had 6 errors in 135 games, 2 at second base and 4 in left field. He only played 25 games at second base and 110 in the outfield (46 in RF, 64 in LF).
So far in 2011, Brian has had a good beginning to the season in Rochester. He is currently hitting .296 with a .374 on-base percentage and he’s slugging .402. He’s hit 15 doubles, 1 HR and 10 RBIs with 21 walks and 32 strikeouts in 189 at-bats. He’s 4 for 5 in stolen base attempts and has zero errors in 50 games. He is currently leading the Red Wings in hits (56), doubles (15), runs scored (22) and walks (21).
Brian Dinkelman is known as a gritty player who will take good at-bats and do whatever it takes to win. He’s been a fan favorite everywhere he’s played and should be fun to watch. He’s consistently progressed through the minor leagues throughout his career. It would sometimes take him awhile but he would eventually adapt to the higher level of competition and post good numbers.
Dinkelman will wear number 26 when he makes his major league debut with the Minnesota Twins! Hopefully the phrase “you’re such a Dink!” will be a good thing from now on! Check out his stats here!
This move was not injury-related but would you rather have to make moves because of injuries or because certain players aren’t playing well?
That’s my Twins Take! What’s yours? Do you like Dinkelman? Will he stay with the Twins for awhile? Is he the second baseman of the future? the present?
Tell us what you think!
“Like” our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter or you can subscribe to our feed here.
Robb Dahlen
