Dingler records 1st hit, RBI in MLB debut against team he grew up rooting for

DETROIT -- The last time Dillon Dingler had been to Comerica Park, he was fresh out of Ohio State, having just been selected in the shortened 2020 Draft. The Tigers held an abbreviated training camp at the park to get ready for the pandemic-shortened season, and Dingler was brought in to catch bullpens and get his feet wet in an empty ballpark.

Four years later, as he stood on second base Monday night following his first Major League hit, an RBI double to end the Tigers’ 16-inning scoreless streak, he could hear the sound system blaring the news and the crowd of 18,387 roar. Guardians third baseman José Ramírez, whom Dingler grew up watching as a kid in Massillon, Ohio, saved the ball and threw it into the Tigers dugout.

It was a long road in between. It was worth the wait.

“It was one of the coolest moments I've ever experienced,” he said. “I really enjoyed that.”

While the Tigers’ 8-4 loss denied the storybook ending, Dingler’s ability to settle in, both at the plate and behind it, was one of the few bright spots of a game that had as much attention on players potentially going out as those like Dingler coming in.

Jack Flaherty was officially scratched from his scheduled start early Monday afternoon, but there was little expectation the Tigers would send him to the mound with a potential deal in waiting ahead of Tuesday evening’s Trade Deadline. The result was the Tigers’ second consecutive bullpen game, though Bryan Sammons covered 7 1/3 innings after Beau Brieske was chased in the first.

Aside from the ballpark, Dingler had as much familiarity with what was around him in his debut as any Tigers rookie this year. He’d worked with coaches and nearly all the pitching staff in Spring Training, and he caught Sammons all season at Triple-A Toledo.

Nearly half the Tigers’ starting lineup, plus Brieske, had played with Dingler in Toledo, either this season or last. He’d put scouting reports together for pitchers in Spring Training, though not with nearly the detail that he encountered when he sat down to work Monday.

“He’s very mature. He’s very under control,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “He’s been waiting for this day for a really long time. He’s just really comfortable around the staff and his teammates.”

The way Dingler performed at Toledo lately made his call-up a matter of when. He went 10-for-19 last week with five home runs, 10 RBIs, five walks and just three strikeouts. The Trade Deadline seemed like a logical entry point, and Sunday’s deal sending Carson Kelly to Texas cleared the way.

“I'd be lying if I said it didn't pass through my mind once or twice,” Dingler said. “But I was just trying not to worry about it, because it's out of your control anyway. I was trying to just go out every day and put the best product on the field that I could, and then go from there. If it happened, it happened. And I'm glad it did.”

The bigger adjustment -- the one-time factor -- were the emotions, from his long journey through the Tigers system to more than two dozen family and friends traveling from Akron, Philadelphia and points in between.

“They couldn't be happier,” Dingler said. “The faces that I saw, my mom and dad especially, there's a lot of emotion involved. It was a very cool moment for them because they did everything for me growing up. My dad drove me to and from baseball, like, five times a week growing up. It was pretty special.”

Dingler eventually settled in at the plate after striking out on Tanner Bibee fastballs in his first at-bat. He hit a Bibee fastball in his second at-bat for a 106 mph grounder that shortstop Brayan Rocchio gobbled for a groundout to begin the fifth. With runners at the corners and nobody out in the seventh inning, Bibee tried to go soft. Dingler took two changeups, then turned on a slider at the bottom of the zone.

The resulting 108.3 mph line drive bounced to the fence in left as Mark Canha scored. Dingler drew a walk off Scott Barlow an inning later to load the bases.

Expect Dingler to catch a lot down the stretch, Hinch said, mixed in with Jake Rogers. The Tigers want to see where they stand catching-wise. Monday was a decent start, but Dingler won’t have another debut.

“I know pretty much every single person in the locker room, and a lot of these guys helped me get where I'm at today,” he said. “I can't thank them enough for welcoming me. I'm looking forward to the next few weeks.”