2 Detroit Tigers Named American League Gold Glove Award Finalists
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The Detroit Tigers may not have made the postseason, but not every player on the roster performed poorly overall. While the Tigers were looked at as one of the biggest threats in the American League on paper, reality told a different story. Nonetheless, there were a few players whose strong performances remained undeniable.
Defensively, Detroit ranked 10th in Major League Baseball in fielding percentage with .987, above the league average of .985. Not every player was a defensive wizard, but those whose strengths are on the defensive side of the ball picked up the slack for the rest of the team.
Two Tigers defenders were among the best across the league, so much so that they've been named as American League Gold Glove finalists for the 2026 season, with one looking to defend his title and the other looking to bring home the hardware for the first time.
C Dillon Dingler
The reigning American League Gold Glove Award winner, Dillon Dingler, is looking to become a two-time award winner after being nominated for the 2026 award. Dingler is up against Brandon Valenzuela of the Toronto Blue Jays and Austin Wells of the New York Yankees.
According to Statcast, Dingler ranked fifth among all qualified fielders in fielding run value. Of those five players, Dingler is one of two from the American League. To help Dingler's case further, the Tigers catcher had 15 defensive runs saved, according to Baseball Reference, whereas Valenzuela had nine and Wells eight.
Dingler threw out 20 runners trying to steal this season and held an average pop time of 1.86, which ranked second in the American League behind Patrick Bailey of the Cleveland Guardians and fourth across Major League Baseball.
UTL Zach McKinstry
Since 2022, utility players have been eligible for the Gold Glove Award, and veteran Zach McKinstry was nominated for it in 2026. While the 2025 Silver Slugger didn't replicate his success at the plate in 2026, McKinstry was very valuable to manager A.J. Hinch.
McKinstry logged innings in the infield and outfield this past season, ending the year with right field being his primary position. One of the more well-known plays McKinstry made this season was throwing out a runner at third base in Justin Verlander's final career start, which ended the inning, as well as gunning someone down at home plate in San Francisco.
Zach McKinstry throws a perfect strike to get the runner at third and Justin Verlander is HYPED 😤 pic.twitter.com/YoR8NT6g8y
— MLB (@MLB) September 26, 2026
Zach McKinstry fires an absolute DART to the plate to keep the game scoreless! 🎯 pic.twitter.com/iAH1qobgKW
— MLB (@MLB) August 9, 2026
McKinstry will go up against José Caballero of the New York Yankees and Ezequiel Duran of the Texas Rangers for the award. Of the three, McKinstry has the second-best fielding run value with 12, behind Duran's 13 and ahead of Caballero's 0, according to Statcast.
The awards will be announced Nov, 1 at 8:30 p.m. ET.
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Dominic Minchella is a 2024 Eastern Michigan University graduate with a BA in Communications, Media, and Theatre Arts and a Journalism minor. He covers Major League Baseball for On SI and spends his free time watching games and sharing his insights.