Brian Dinkelman was called up last night after the Minnesota Twins’ game against Kansas City. Trevor Plouffe * was sent to Triple A Rochester and Joe Mauer was moved from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day disabled list to make room for him on the 40-man list.
* 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 on the field with 3 errors. He was 1 of 24 in his last 8 games. We will probably see him back at some point.
Brian has played second base and left field for Triple A Twins affiliate Rochester Red Wings. He also played shortstop, but only 14 games at the High-A and AA levels in 2008. Since then, he’s been pretty much divided between second base and a corner field spot.
Brian Dinkelman is 27 years old, 5’11 “, 195 pounds, hits left and throws right. Brian was selected in the eighth round of the 2006 MLB First-Year Player Draft from the Association’s McKendree College. National Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). 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 second player selected in the draft from McKendree College at the time and the first to reach the major leagues! Two more players have been selected from McKendree College since 2006.
* These are all NAIA professional records and he also holds the record for the most professional assists (679).
Brian Dinkelman follows Jeff Manship, Danny Valencia and Anthony Slama as players to play for the Twins who were selected in the 2006 draft. Brian started at the rookie level at Elizabethton in 2006 and hit. 298 with 4 home runs and 32 RBIs. He has risen steadily up the organizational ladder since then, playing for Beloit (A) and Fort Myers (High-A) in 2007 and Fort Myers and New Britain (AA) in 2008.
In 2009, Brian played all season for AA New Britain batting 296 / .383 / .440 with 38 doubles, 8 HRs and 65 RBIs with 55 walks and 73 strikeouts in 459 at-bats. He stole 5 bases in 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 Triple A Rochester Red Wings and played the entire season there. He struggled a bit, just hitting 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 in 13 attempts and had 6 errors in 135 games, 2 at second base and 4 in left field. He played just 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 start to the season in Rochester. He is currently hitting .296 with a .374 on-base percentage and is slugging .402. He has hit 15 doubles, 1 HR and 10 RBIs with 21 walks and 32 strikeouts in 189 at-bats. He has 4 of 5 stolen base attempts and has zero errors in 50 games. He currently leads the Red Wings in hits (56), doubles (15), runs scored (22) and walks (21).
Brian Dinkelman is known as a fearless 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 has made steady progress in the minor leagues throughout his career. Sometimes it took him a while, but eventually he adjusted to the highest level of competition and posted good numbers.
Dinkelman will wear No. 26 when he makes his Major League debut with the Minnesota Twins! Hopefully, the phrase “you’re an idiot!” it will be a good thing from now on! I’m sure McKendree College will be watching too.
This movement was not related to an injury, but I would rather have to do movements due to injuries or because certain players are not playing well.