As far as position players are concerned, I don't know if there's a single player on the Tigers who had a more surprising campaign in 2025 than Dillon Dingler. Dingler, in many ways, represents where the current Detroit Tigers regime has succeeded in player development, while the previous regime clearly failed. Dingler came out of Ohio State as a very highly touted prospect. He was Detroit's second pick after Spencer Torkelson in the 2020 COVID-19 draft. This was an organization that expected big things from him, but for a while it seemed as though he would be lost in obscurity. He had a wonderful year in the minor leagues last year, and this year, in his first full campaign at the big league level, he had an outstanding season.
It's easy to forget how quickly things can change here. Coming into this season, the expectation was that Jake Rogers was still going to be getting a majority of the reps behind home plate. Rogers caught every single pitch of Tarik Skubal's 2024 Cy Young campaign, and it's a testament to Dillon Dingler that he's not only one of the better offensive catchers in the sport, but the team didn't miss a beat defensively when he was behind the plate. In fact, you could argue that he is elite behind the dish. His game calling improved quite a bit, and his arm behind home plate completely limits the run game.
Detroit will obviously go into this offseason with many questions about its offense. This makes sense, considering how much that unit fell apart down the stretch. Still, for the first time in a long time, the catcher position, both offensively and defensively, is one that I am not particularly worried about. This was an organization that collectively had an 85 OPS+ at the catcher position last season. In 126 games, Dingler achieved an OPS+ of 108, which is not only a major improvement from a year ago but also well above average offensive production for any player, regardless of position.
Much like several key pieces on the Tigers roster, Dingler tends to expand the strike zone. He improved quite a bit as the season went along, but offensively, you'd like to see him improve the walk rate a little bit. Outside of one big game against Cleveland in the Wild Card series, he struggled quite a bit with the bat in the postseason. But beyond those minor things, there's very little for me to complain about here. Dingler's batted ball data is exceptional, especially for someone at the catcher position. He's a brick wall behind home plate. For all the relatively young pieces of Scott Harris's core, Dingler is most likely to be here long-term. He's entering his age-27 season, and even if his offense declines at some point, he's going to provide tremendous value as one of the better defensive catchers in baseball.
The catching position in the American League is dominated by Cal Raleigh, who I'm sure still has several more elite seasons left in him. Still, people should not overlook Dillon Dingler. There's a legit chance we see him be an All-Star at some point in this league. There were points in the second half of the season where it felt as though this team was in desperate need of leadership. Maybe in the future, Dingler can be the guy to provide that. His ceiling is very high.
FINAL GRADE: A-