Detroit Tigers’ Dillon Dingler explains how he’s developing at catcher
Ohio State catcher Dillon Dingler, selected in second round by Detroit Tigers in 2020 MLB draft, spoke to reporters June 11, 2020.
Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press
Detroit Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler is a Gold Glove winner.
The 27-year-old won the American League Gold Glove at catcher for his performance in the 2025 season, announced Sunday, Nov. 2, by Rawlings Baseball.
Dingler snapped an eight-year drought for the Tigers, becoming the first player to win the Gold Glove at any position since second baseman Ian Kinsler in 2016. He also became the first Tigers catcher to win the Gold Glove since Pudge RodrÃguez in 2007.
To win the award, Dingler defeated two other finalists: Alejandro Kirk (Toronto Blue Jays) and Carlos Narváez (Boston Red Sox). The voting was comprised of MLB managers and coaches for 75% and the SABR Defensive Index for the other 25%.
In 2025, Dingler started 113 of his 126 games at catcher, in the first full season of his two-year MLB career.
He logged 1,011â…” innings behind the plate, the most by a Tigers catcher since Alex Avila (1,017â…” innings) in 2014. Only five catchers from the Tigers have surpassed 1,000 innings in a single season since 2000: Avila, RodrÃguez, Brad Ausmus, Gerald Laird — and now Dingler.
Dingler was worth plus-6 defensive runs saved, trailing only Narváez (plus-10) and Kirk (plus-9) among AL catchers. He posted a 31.7% caught stealing rate that led AL catchers, ahead of Narváez (29.9%) and Kirk (19.8%).
Among all MLB catchers, Dingler ranked in the 95th percentile in blocking, 91st percentile in framing and 85th percentile in caught stealing.
He didn’t allowed a passed ball.
Meanwhile, Narváez allowed nine passed balls, while Kirk allowed four passed balls.
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For the Tigers, Dingler replaced Jake Rogers as the primary catcher when Rogers suffered an oblique strain in early April, then established himself as the starting catcher by the time Rogers returned from the injured list in mid-May.
Not only was Dingler golden behind the plate, but he also shined at the plate, hitting .278 with 13 home runs, 23 walks and 110 strikeouts across 126 games. His .752 OPS ranked fifth among 14 AL catchers with at least 400 plate appearances.
Dingler, selected in the second round (No. 38 overall) of the 2020 draft, is the fourth Tigers catcher to win the Gold Glove, joining Bill Freehan (1965-69), Lance Parrish (1983-85) and RodrÃguez (2004, 2006-07). While playing for the Tigers, Freehan and Parrish won the World Series in 1968 and 1984, respectively, but RodrÃguez fell short in 2006.
RodrÃguez entered the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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