Tigers Breakout Star Dillon Dingler Named Finalist for Gold Glove Award
In this story:
The Detroit Tigers are sitting at home this offseason trying to figure out how to get to the next level.
For the second year in a row, they came one win shy of reaching the American League Championship Series. But this time, their loss came in excruciating fashion after they fell to the Seattle Mariners in the 15th inning of Game 5.
President of baseball operations Scott Harris will have to take a long look at this roster to figure out what upgrades need to be made this winter, especially after they had a muted offseason last year and didn't do enough ahead of the trade deadline.
One area that seems to be in good hands is catcher, with Dillon Dingler making the most of his opportunity after 2024 starter Jake Rogers got hurt. Dingler had a breakout performance, and now the rising star is a finalist for the Gold Glove Award.
Congratulations to Dillon Dingler on being named a #RawlingsGoldGloveAwards finalist! 👏 pic.twitter.com/XNiCtU0K82
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) October 15, 2025
While much of the attention regarding the 27-year-old centered around his performance at the plate with a .278/.327/.425 slash line, 13 home runs, 57 RBIs and an OPS+ that was eight points above the league average of 100, the best part of his game might have been behind the plate.
Dingler was worth six defensive runs saved and had a fielding run value of plus-12. He also committed just seven errors and had 39 assists, all while being in the 95th percentile in blocks above average, the 91st percentile in framing and the 85th percentile in caught stealing.
Whether or not that's enough for him to take home his first Gold Glove Award in what was his first full season of Major League Baseball action will be seen, especially because he has some stiff competition he's facing.
Dillon Dingler Is Finalist Alongside Alejandro Kirk and Carlos Narvaez
If Dingler is going to take home the honor this year, he'll have to beat out a pair of AL East catchers in Alejandro Kirk of the Toronto Blue Jays and Carlos Narvaez of the Boston Red Sox.
Considering how good both those players were on defense this past season, it's going to be difficult for Dingler to win the award. However, this is a great start to his big league career, and considering some of the talented catchers coming up Detroit's pipeline, he might have cemented his spot for a few years until those players are ready.
This will still be an interesting race to follow, but it might not go Dingler's way this season.
