\u201cdude factor,\u201d<\/a> which ended up being an apt descriptor.<\/p>\nAll prospects are drafted with high hopes. Few turn out to meet the highest version of their potential. Sunday evening, however, Dingler was announced as the winner of the American League Gold Glove Award at catcher \u2014claiming the honor in his first full major-league season. Dingler\u2019s year \u2014 a .278 batting average, a 4.1 fWAR that led Tigers position players, and elite defense with hardware to back it up \u2014 makes you wonder just how bright his future could be.<\/p>\n
Might this award just be the start of a decorated career?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the next hope.<\/p>\n
Dingler\u2019s merit<\/p>\n
Talking on a video call Monday, Dingler said he was surprised when he first learned he won the Gold Glove. The American League field was filled with worthy candidates.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of really talented catchers in there, in our league,\u201d Dingler said. \u201cSo it was a really, really cool surprise. \u2026 When they passed the slips around all the coaches, I knew I had a decent chance, but it was awesome when I found out.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Toronto Blue Jays\u2019 Alejandro Kirk had a compelling case bolstered by elite blocking and framing metrics. The Boston Red Sox\u2019s Carlos Narv\u00e1ez was well-rounded like Dingler and had an edge in some statistical categories.<\/p>\n
Dingler, though, bested Narv\u00e1ez in blocking and framing. He was superior to Kirk in throwing.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a closer look at how the finalists compare in terms of defensive runs saved, fielding run value and blocks, caught stealing and framing runs above average.<\/p>\n
AL catcher Gold Glove finalists<\/p>\n
PlayerDRSFRVBlocksCSFraming<\/p>\n
6<\/p>\n
12<\/p>\n
10<\/p>\n
4<\/p>\n
7<\/p>\n
10<\/p>\n
9<\/p>\n
6<\/p>\n
9<\/p>\n
5<\/p>\n
9<\/p>\n
22<\/p>\n
21<\/p>\n
0<\/p>\n
16<\/p>\n
Dingler caught 25 starts from Tarik Skubal, the expected AL Cy Young Award winner, and helped guide Skubal to an incredible 1.88 ERA in those outings. He also navigated a pitching staff filled with young arms and a revolving door of relievers. The Tigers\u2019 staff struggled down the stretch, but the team still made the playoffs and advanced to the AL Wild Card Series.<\/p>\n
Dingler spent more time behind the plate than the other two finalists. He caught 1,072 innings this season, second only to the Seattle Mariners\u2019 Cal Raleigh among AL catchers. Kirk caught 965 1\/3 innings, and Narv\u00e1ez caught 952. Dingler and Raleigh made history, joining a list that now includes five players to catch 1,000 innings in a season without allowing a single passed ball.<\/p>\n
Kirk and Narv\u00e1ez could both profile as deserving winners. But for an award determined through 75 percent manager and coach voting and a 25 percent statistical component, Dingler ultimately got the nod.<\/p>\n
The anatomy of a Gold Glove season<\/p>\n
Dingler was drafted with all the right tools, but his development into a Gold Glove winner still took years of work. He has credited Ryan Sienko \u2014 the Tigers\u2019 minor-league catching coordinator from 2022 to 2023 and major-league catching coach since 2024 \u2014 for helping him revamp his entire style.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s night and day, what he did for me,\u201d Dingler said. \u201cI sent him a little text last night. When he came over, he influenced our catching group so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sienko taught Dingler, Jake Rogers and other catchers in the system the one-knee setup that now permeates the game. He had them begin with their glove on the ground to better attack and frame balls thrown low in the zone. Dingler tended to struggle with pitches away to left-handers or in to righties. He experimented, twisting his body, hinging his elbow, working around the ball, before finally finding ways to improve.<\/p>\n
Dingler was worth minus-2 framing runs on such pitches in his short major-league sample last season. He improved to league average at that part of the zone this year while continuing to thrive at the bottom of the zone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI sucked on my glove side,\u201d Dingler said. \u201cGetting those calls to my glove side \u2014 that was a struggle all year. We worked and worked and worked and worked to try to come up with solutions. And that\u2019s exactly what (Sienko) did. He was always there trying to find solutions for us. I can\u2019t say enough good things about the guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dingler\u2019s athletic ability (he played center field for a year at Ohio State and returned punts as a high-school football player) has helped make him one of the best blocking catchers in the game.<\/p>\n
However, his lightning arm has been on display frequently since the minor leagues. Dingler caught 30 percent of runners on stealing chances this year, ranking ninth in the league.<\/p>\n
Although his pop time was actually slower than it was a year ago, his arm strength improved to become a full mile per hour better than any other qualifying MLB catcher. The Washington Nationals\u2019 Riley Adams ranked second at 84.2 mph.<\/p>\n
SeasonPop timeExchangeArm <\/p>\n
2024<\/p>\n
1.86<\/p>\n
0.68<\/p>\n
83.6<\/p>\n
2025<\/p>\n
1.92<\/p>\n
0.71<\/p>\n
85.3<\/p>\n
Dingler mentioned several catchers he has watched and tried to emulate \u2014 none bigger than Rogers, the Tigers backstop he supplanted for the lion\u2019s share of playing time this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had every right to be spiteful or salty,\u201d Dingler said, \u201cbut he was there for me all year, no matter what. \u2026 He is the leader of the team. He always has been. And him being there for me and him being there for everybody on our team was big, was absolutely huge, so I couldn\u2019t thank him enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Where he stands in Tigers history
\n PlayerGold GlovesYears<\/p>\n
5<\/p>\n
1965-69<\/p>\n
3<\/p>\n
1983-85<\/p>\n
3<\/p>\n
2004, 2006-07<\/p>\n
1<\/p>\n
2025<\/p>\n
Dingler breaks an elongated drought in franchise history. He is the first Tiger to win a Gold Glove since Ian Kinsler at second base in 2016.<\/p>\n
He joins Ivan Rodriguez, Lance Parrish and Bill Freehan as the only Tigers catchers to win Gold Glove Awards.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose were some very good players,\u201d Dingler said. \u201cSo to be able to be a part of that group, it means a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT \u2014 Five years ago, the Detroit Tigers drafted Dillon Dingler for his arm and his athleticism, his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,490,462,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-259605","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-detroit-tigers","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}