A Look at Dillon Dingler’s First Full Season as Detroit Tigers Catcher

The Detroit Tigers are very solid on defense at the catcher position.

Oct 8, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler (13) hits an RBI single in the fifth inning against the Seattle Mariners during game four of the ALDS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Comerica Park. | Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

The Detroit Tigers are coming off of back-to-back years with losses in the American League Divisional Series. While it is easy to focus on the negatives that come with bitter taste from seasons like that it is important to focus on the positives too and there is definitely reason to celebrate their young catcher, Dillon Dingler.

Dingler is only 27-years-old and just finished his first full year in the Majors as he made his debut at the end of July just last year. He has been with the organization since they drafted him back in 2020 in the second round. After watching him at the plate both on offense and defense, it is clear that he has All-Star appearances in his future.

Tigers' Catcher Review: B+

Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Cal Raleigh (Mariners) and William Contreras (Brewers) set the bar extremely high for the catcher position, but Dingler isn't a let down by any means, especially on the defensive side. He also isn't the only catcher that suits up for the Tigers, along with Jake Rogers.

Rogers and Dingler have flipped positions from this season to last where it was Rogers as the No.1 catcher last year, it is now Dingler. Both players sit in the top-10 in baseball for catchers in defense (per fangraphs) as the only team in the majors with two top-20, let alone top-10.

The Tigers are definitely not the best offense in the league by any means, but they are a good team that made it to the ALDS and Dingler was a big part of that, especially towards the end of the year. He helped keep them alive when the team was struggling in the final months of the year.

By the end of the regular season their catcher was tied for fifth most in both home runs (13) and RBI (57) with the fourth-most hits, 121. He finished the year with a .278 batting average as he was hitting close to .300 in his last 30 games of the regular season.

The fact that Dillon Dingler is able to stand let alone make this throw after 14 innings of crouching is a minor miracle pic.twitter.com/BQjej8Mbvh

— AT (@YankeeWRLD) October 11, 2025

Dingler didn't have the best postseason swinging a bat as he posting a .167 batting average, but was one of four to have an on-base percentage over .300. This was only his first playoff of his career and he didn't let the team down on defense.

It had already been 14 innings of do-or-die play in game 5 of the ALDS when Victor Robles from the Mariners attempted to steal second base with two outs on the board and Dingler made a spot on throw to get the out and force another inning.

As the year went on Dingler kept getting better and better. It will be fun to watch him roll this momentum into next season as an All-Star in the making.