Numbers Reveal Why Detroit Tigers Promoted Top Prospect to Majors
The Detroit Tigers promoted catcher Dillon Dingler to the Majors shortly after they traded Carson Kelly to the Texas Rangers in late July.
His promotion wasn’t just due to having an open spot behind the plate. As Baseball America recently revealed, his numbers in the minors this season necessitated the move and it was likely only a matter of time.
The site highlighted 10 minor league prospects that it touted has having a “promising combination of plate skills (contact and approach) as well as impact metrics to hint at projectable future projection.”
The players met certain thresholds, according to Baseball America, including zone contact (20% zone miss of lower), raw power (90th percentile exit velocity above 104 mph) and expected production on contact (.385 xwOBAcon or higher).
To make the list, Dingler had to have a breakout 2024 at Triple-A Toledo on the offensive side. His ability to call a game and defend has always been respected, but he hadn’t batted better than .256 in any of his three previous minor league seasons.
That changed this year.
Before his promotion, he slashed .308/.379/.559 with 17 home runs and 52 RBI for the Mud Hens. That, combined with his defensive ability, was going to force the Tigers' hand at some point. Kelly’s trade provided the conduit for him to join the active roster.
Now, the 25-year-old rookie is going through an adjustment.
In seven games he’s slashed .150/.227/.250/.477 and has driven in two runs. He’s sharing time with Jake Rogers.
But Dingler falls inside the measurables that Baseball America posted for this piece. For instance, he’s in the 90th percentile for raw power with an exit velocity of 105.1 mph. His xwOBAcon is .453 and his zone contact miss rate is 14.4%, which is well below the 20% threshold.
The second-round pick in 2020 out of Ohio State could be a long-term part of Detroit’s plans.
He didn’t get a chance to play in the pros until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which shut down minor league baseball. When he did, he began his career High-A West Michigan, where in 32 games, he earned a promotion to Double-A Erie. He struggled, including missing time with an injury, and batted only .202.
But he bounced back in 2022, representing the Tigers in the MLB Futures Game playing in the Arizona Fall League.
A right knee injury limited him to 51 games with Erie last year, but he still managed a late-season promotion to Toledo, where he started this campaign.
Now, he's looking to stick at the Major League level and prove to the organization he should be part of their plans for the future.
