It's been a dream start to the 2025 season for the Detroit Tigers. Despite the AL Central's strength among the top four teams, the Motor City Kitties have separated themselves with the best record in the American League and a 4.5-game cushion in the division. Javy Baez's resurgence, Kerry Carpenter, Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson have fully arrived, and the rotation's been strong. But Tigers fans are also watching rookie catcher Dillon Dingler become a star in a way that was entirely unexpected.
Dingler got a cup of coffee for the Tigers last season but was unimpressive across 27 games, posting a .167/.195/.310 slash line with 30 strikeouts in 87 plate appearances. So when you now look at his 35 games this season with Detroit, it's like a completely different player. In 135 plate appearances, he's cut down the strikeout rate by 7.1 percent and is just straight-up producing at the plate with a .292/.319/.462 slash line (an OPS 275 points higher than last season's) with four home runs and 13 extra-base hits.
It's not just the improvement at the plate that's worth noting, though. His defense has been a plus behind the plate as well. His 2 Defensive Runs Saved is tied for seventh among catchers this season while also ranking sixth in MLB in terms of framing as well, per Fangraphs. That's why he currently ranks third among catchers this season in fWAR at 1.5 behind only Cal Raleigh and Will Smith.
Dillon Dingler is the breakout star Tigers fans didn't see coming
When you start to identify the reasons why the Tigers have been the hottest team in the American League to begin the season, someone like Dingler is a massive part of that. Yes, getting someone like Torkelson to realize his potential or resurrecting Baez's career by moving him to center field is certainly at play as well.
At the same time, the Tigers were often plagued last season by a lack of depth with their offense. The improvements made by bigger names helps remedy that in the lineup but it becomes an elite strength for Detroit with someone like Dingler breaking out in the manner that he has. He's not just a plus asset defensively but now gives opposing pitchers another tough out to deal with at the bottom of the lineup.
That type of value can't be overstated. As a Red Sox fan who pulls his hair out nightly when the lineup moves past the heart of the order, the value of continually putting pressure on opposing pitchers is immense. Dingler is doing that in droves right now and has made the Tigers exponentially deeper offensively than they were a year ago.
Of course, baseball is the longest season and we're not even one-third of the way through at this point. There are going to be ups and downs, especially for a 26-year-old with just over 60 major-league games under his belt. At the same time, though, with what he's given the Tigers to this point, Dingler is quickly emerging as one of the most valuable assets at his position, regardless of his current pre-arbitration salary. He's just been damn good, and he's a big reason Detroit is dreaming bigger than they have in a long time.