Tigers’ Dillon Dingler won a Gold Glove in his first full MLB season. Is this just the start?

DETROIT — Five years ago, the Detroit Tigers drafted Dillon Dingler for his arm and his athleticism, his savvy makeup and his intriguing bat.

He had all the qualities you could want for a catcher. He was strong and stoic, had a knack for receiving balls at the bottom of the strike zone and possessed innate leadership qualities forged through his days as a three-sport high-school athlete in Ohio.

His coach at Ohio State, Greg Beals, talked after the 2020 MLB Draft about Dingler’s “dude factor,” which ended up being an apt descriptor.

All prospects are drafted with high hopes. Few turn out to meet the highest version of their potential. Sunday evening, however, Dingler was announced as the winner of the American League Gold Glove Award at catcher —claiming the honor in his first full major-league season. Dingler’s year — a .278 batting average, a 4.1 fWAR that led Tigers position players, and elite defense with hardware to back it up — makes you wonder just how bright his future could be.

Might this award just be the start of a decorated career?

That’s the next hope.

Dingler’s merit

Talking on a video call Monday, Dingler said he was surprised when he first learned he won the Gold Glove. The American League field was filled with worthy candidates.

“There’s a lot of really talented catchers in there, in our league,” Dingler said. “So it was a really, really cool surprise. … When they passed the slips around all the coaches, I knew I had a decent chance, but it was awesome when I found out.”

The Toronto Blue Jays’ Alejandro Kirk had a compelling case bolstered by elite blocking and framing metrics. The Boston Red Sox’s Carlos Narváez was well-rounded like Dingler and had an edge in some statistical categories.

Dingler, though, bested Narváez in blocking and framing. He was superior to Kirk in throwing.

Here’s a closer look at how the finalists compare in terms of defensive runs saved, fielding run value and blocks, caught stealing and framing runs above average.

Dingler caught 25 starts from Tarik Skubal, the expected AL Cy Young Award winner, and helped guide Skubal to an incredible 1.88 ERA in those outings. He also navigated a pitching staff filled with young arms and a revolving door of relievers. The Tigers’ staff struggled down the stretch, but the team still made the playoffs and advanced to the AL Wild Card Series.

Dingler spent more time behind the plate than the other two finalists. He caught 1,072 innings this season, second only to the Seattle Mariners’ Cal Raleigh among AL catchers. Kirk caught 965 1/3 innings, and Narváez caught 952. Dingler and Raleigh made history, joining a list that now includes five players to catch 1,000 innings in a season without allowing a single passed ball.

Kirk and Narváez could both profile as deserving winners. But for an award determined through 75 percent manager and coach voting and a 25 percent statistical component, Dingler ultimately got the nod.

The anatomy of a Gold Glove season

Dingler was drafted with all the right tools, but his development into a Gold Glove winner still took years of work. He has credited Ryan Sienko — the Tigers’ minor-league catching coordinator from 2022 to 2023 and major-league catching coach since 2024 — for helping him revamp his entire style.

“It’s night and day, what he did for me,” Dingler said. “I sent him a little text last night. When he came over, he influenced our catching group so much.”

Sienko taught Dingler, Jake Rogers and other catchers in the system the one-knee setup that now permeates the game. He had them begin with their glove on the ground to better attack and frame balls thrown low in the zone. Dingler tended to struggle with pitches away to left-handers or in to righties. He experimented, twisting his body, hinging his elbow, working around the ball, before finally finding ways to improve.

Dingler was worth minus-2 framing runs on such pitches in his short major-league sample last season. He improved to league average at that part of the zone this year while continuing to thrive at the bottom of the zone.

“I sucked on my glove side,” Dingler said. “Getting those calls to my glove side — that was a struggle all year. We worked and worked and worked and worked to try to come up with solutions. And that’s exactly what (Sienko) did. He was always there trying to find solutions for us. I can’t say enough good things about the guy.”

Dingler’s athletic ability (he played center field for a year at Ohio State and returned punts as a high-school football player) has helped make him one of the best blocking catchers in the game.

However, his lightning arm has been on display frequently since the minor leagues. Dingler caught 30 percent of runners on stealing chances this year, ranking ninth in the league.

Although his pop time was actually slower than it was a year ago, his arm strength improved to become a full mile per hour better than any other qualifying MLB catcher. The Washington Nationals’ Riley Adams ranked second at 84.2 mph.

Dingler mentioned several catchers he has watched and tried to emulate — none bigger than Rogers, the Tigers backstop he supplanted for the lion’s share of playing time this season.

“He had every right to be spiteful or salty,” Dingler said, “but he was there for me all year, no matter what. … He is the leader of the team. He always has been. And him being there for me and him being there for everybody on our team was big, was absolutely huge, so I couldn’t thank him enough.”

Where he stands in Tigers history

Dingler breaks an elongated drought in franchise history. He is the first Tiger to win a Gold Glove since Ian Kinsler at second base in 2016.

He joins Ivan Rodriguez, Lance Parrish and Bill Freehan as the only Tigers catchers to win Gold Glove Awards.

“Those were some very good players,” Dingler said. “So to be able to be a part of that group, it means a lot.”