Dillon

Dingler

The three-hit attack raises Dingler’s season average to .254. Dingler remains top-nine in expected wOBA on the season at .403, and his expected batting average of .294 is still being roundly underperformed. He’s been a quiet success story at catcher this year -- good enough to DH on some of his days off, like today -- and remains an easy starter in fantasy leagues.

It’s still kind of hard to see Dingler ending the season in the running for AL MVP honors, but he’s very much on the short list through 57 games. All four of his balls in play tonight were hard hit, and he’s batting .248//329/. 528 with 16 homers and 48 RBI while also performing as one of the league’s top defensive catchers to date. He’s tied for 11th in the majors in homes and fifth in RBI.

Three more hard-hit balls for Dingler today, including a 361-foot homer off Nick Martinez. It was Dingler’s 14th homer, tying him with Shea Langeliers for second among catchers. Hunter Goodman has 15. Dingler is also second with 43 RBI, three behind Liam Hicks.

Dingler served as Detroit’s primary catalyst during Monday’s wild slugfest at Tropicana Field where the Tigers launched five homers and barely managed to escape with a win. The 27-year-old backstop took Tampa Bay starter Griffin Jax deep in the third inning before parking one against reliever Trevor Martin two innings later. It was his first multi-homer performance of the season. He’s homered four times in his last seven games and has already matched last year’s career-high 13 homers in just 54 games after needing 126 to reach that total a season ago.

Dingler has been a nearly everyday player for the Tigers in the past month, often serving as the designated hitter when he’s not behind the dish. He’ll get a full day off in this one though. He also may see less time as the designated hitter going forward with Kerry Carpenter returning from the injured list on Sunday.

Dingler opened the scoring in the ballgame as he walloped a 361-foot two-run shot off of Erick Fedde in the third inning. The hard-hitting backstop finished the night 1-for-4 and is now slashing .231/.319/.468 with 11 homers and 34 RBI on the season.

Dingler popped a two-run homer in the first that scored Kevin McGonigle. He continues to post high-end expected stats, particularly on the slugging side. His profile leans SLG over OBP, and the counting stats receive a boost from how often he plays. Through Sunday, he has the seventh most plate appearances among primary catchers.

Dingler’s double in the first wound up high off the wall in left at Comerica. According to Statcast, it was a homer in six ballparks. His actual homer was a homer in 16 ballparks, including all six the first one was a homer in. So, this would have been a two-homer day in six ballparks and a zero-homer day in 14. Settling for one seems like a good compromise.

Both hits were singles as the Tigers failed to record an extra-base hit against Kevin Gausman and the Blue Jays’ bullpen. Sunday was Dingler’s 12th straight start as Detroit has kept him in the lineup as a DH when he isn’t catching. His 165 plate appearances so far this year are tied for eighth among primary backstops. Dingler is posting career-best batted-ball metrics across the board, and many of his expected stats are among the best in MLB.

Dingler has been moved up to the second spot in Detroit’s lineup, behind rookie standout Kevin McGonigle, for the first time in his career. The 27-year-old backstop is hitting just .196 (11-for-56) with two homers over his last 15 games. He’s mashed seven homers through 36 games, which puts him on pace to easily shatter last year’s career-high 13 round-trippers in 136 contests.