Detroit Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler's glove is MLB-ready. His bat, however, needs work

A perfectionist in an imperfect game.

That's how Detroit Tigers prospect Dillon Dingler, an athletic catcher, evaluates his development. His defense gets overlooked because his offense needs improvement, but based on receiving, blocking, throwing and preparation, the Tigers already view him as MLB-ready on defense. The way he calls a game for his pitchers should carry him to an opportunity at the highest level.

His offense remains a work in progress, though.

"The biggest thing for me is the contact rate," Dingler said, "but finding the happy medium ... to where if you wait to get your pitch, maybe a couple of pitches later, you can do damage."

ANOTHER PROSPECT: New prospect Hao-Yu Lee brings 'contact-plus-damage approach' to Tigers after trade

The Tigers added Dingler, their second-round pick in the 2020 draft, to the 40-man roster at the beginning of the offseason, thus protecting him from the Rule 5 draft. The two other catchers on that roster, Jake Rogers and Carson Kelly, are set to break camp with the Tigers on the 26-man roster for Opening Day.

For now, Dingler is stationed for Triple-A Toledo.

"In the big leagues, the fingers you put down might be the most important things that a catcher does every day," said Ryan Garko, the Tigers' vice present of player development. "He has all the ingredients to be really good at that for a really long time."

On offense, Dingler was extremely passive early in counts last season, swinging at just 52.8% of pitches inside the strike zone with fewer than two strikes. He fell into too many two-strike counts by not swinging at hittable pitches. With two strikes, Dingler was forced to expand his coverage of the plate, and although he avoided chasing most two-strike pitches outside of the zone, he often struggled to make contact on certain pitches inside the zone.

The next step in his development is putting together quality plate appearances by sticking to his optimal approach against individual pitchers. Generally, Dingler would benefit from being more aggressive on early fastballs in specific locations of the zone.

"The power numbers are there, but probably not as much as I would like them to be," said Dingler, who launched 16 home runs with a top-tier 91.2 mph average exit velocity and an impressive 11% walk rate in 89 games last season. "I think I can hit more homers if I'm more aware of game situations and what I'm looking for at the plate. I can increase my numbers that way."

Dingler already limits his chase rate to draw walks and creates damage to hit home runs, foreshadowing a chance for positive results in the future, but wasting too many plate appearances by falling into two-strike counts has led to too many strikeouts. He averaged 1.3 strikeouts per game over the past two seasons.

The other part of the equation is a mechanical movement in which his back leg fails to stay in place during his swing, which leads to in-zone swing-and-miss issues. He took steps to control the load of his swing last season and knows what he needs to do with his swing, so the mechanics are secondary to the approach.

Implementing a selective-aggressive approach is of the utmost importance moving forward. He referenced the way Mike Trout and Colt Keith approach hitting as an example of what he hopes to accomplish at the plate.

"It's like when you see Mike Trout swinging," Dingler said. "There are hardly any times where you see him give a half swing at a ball that he doesn't want to swing at. He waits for it to get into his zone, and then he takes his swing. Colt Keith is the same way. It's a very repeatable swing, and he does a lot of damage because he gets his swing off on pitches that he wants to swing at."

ROSTER PREDICTION 2.0: Five new players acquired by Tigers before New Year's Day

Behind the plate, leading pitchers through a game has been Dingler's calling card since his college years at Ohio State. He has gained confidence in pitch calling and game management in each year of his professional career, which began as the No. 38 overall pick in 2020.

Dingler, who has a strong arm, switched from the crouch stance (with both knees off the ground) to a right-knee-down stance last season. He threw out 11 of 22 runners on stolen-base attempts across 189 innings as Toledo's catcher to finish the season.

"The biggest thing was when guys were on base," Dingler said. "It wasn't worrying about blocking balls, it was about being able to pop up and throw. Once I found out I could do that from a knee-down setup, it's like 'game over,' because framing is easier and blocking is easier."

Offense, more so than defense, will determine whether he ends up a starter or backup in the big leagues. Dingler knows that's the case, as do the Tigers.

But the Tigers expect Dingler's presence in the big leagues, regardless of the exact role, because of his defense. He is closer than ever to making his MLB debut, even though he will report to Triple-A after spring training.

"There are ingredients of a high on-base (percentage) with some slug," Garko said. "He just needs to do it now at the higher level. ... Get on base, hit for power and show that, offensively, he can hold that same profile in Triple-A and, hopefully, beyond."

THE OTHER CATCHER: Tigers catcher Carson Kelly has 'fallen in love with process' of making adjustments

In 2023, Dingler hit .256 with 16 home runs, 42 walks and 105 strikeouts with Low-A Lakeland (12 games), Double-A Erie (51 games) and Triple-A Toledo (26 games). He had a .361 on-base percentage and .839 on-base-plus-slugging percentage.

A pair of injuries limited him to 89 games, as he underwent a knee procedure in mid-March and didn't begin the season until late April. After that, he suffered right arm soreness in mid-July and didn't play again until early August.

He launched six home runs in his first 10 games of the season, including four homers in eight games with Low-A Lakeland, only to hit .230 with five home runs in his next 37 games at Double-A Erie through the end of June. He then dealt with arm soreness and wasn't promoted to Triple-A Toledo until midway through August.

He wonders what would have happened if he played better at the beginning of last season.

It's the way a perfectionist thinks.

Maybe he would have been the answer as the backup catcher behind Rogers when the Tigers cut Eric Haase on Aug. 19, only a few days before fellow prospect Parker Meadows made his MLB debut. Instead, the Tigers signed Kelly, a 29-year-old veteran catcher, for the remainder of the season and picked up his $3.5 million club option for 2024. There isn't an immediate pathway for Dingler to make his MLB debut.

"I'm not mad with where I ended up," Dingler said. "I'm not saying that I had a perfect season or anything like that, but I definitely think that I'm in a good spot coming into this year. I'm really excited to get to show everybody what I can do here in spring training and see where it goes from there."

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

Listen to our weekly Tigers show "Days of Roar" every Monday afternoon on demand at freep.com, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler knows his bat needs work