Francis Dillon Dingler (born September 17, 1998) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2024.

Amateur career

Dingler attended Jackson High School in Jackson Township, Ohio, where he played baseball,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, and

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, leading Jackson to state championships in both basketball and baseball his senior year. Undrafted in the

2017 Major League Baseball draft The 2017 Major League Baseball draft began on June 12, 2017. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The first 36 picks, including the first round and compensatory picks, were broadcast on MLB Network on June 12, while the remai ...

, he enrolled at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

for the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree, ...

. As a freshman at Ohio State in 2018, Dingler batted .244 with four home runs and 17 RBIs over 53 games. He earned

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

All-Freshman honors. In 2019, his sophomore year, he was named a team captain. He missed 19 games during the season due to a broken hamate bone in his left hand. Over 49 games, he

slashed Ash are a Northern Irish rock band formed in Downpatrick, County Down in 1992 by vocalist and guitarist Tim Wheeler, bassist Mark Hamilton and drummer Rick McMurray. As a three-piece, they released mini-album '' Trailer'' in 1994 and full-lengt ...

.291/.392/.424 with three home runs and 19 RBIs, and was named to the All-Big Ten second team. As a junior in 2019, Dingler once again was named a team captain. He hit .340 with five home runs and 14 RBIs over 13 games before the college baseball season was cut short due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Professional career

The

selected Dingler in the second round, with the 38th overall pick in the

2020 Major League Baseball draft The 2020 Major League Baseball draft took place on June 10 and 11, 2020. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2019 MLB season standings. In ad ...

. He signed for $1.93 million. He did not play a minor league game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

. To begin the 2021 season, he was assigned to the

West Michigan Whitecaps The West Michigan Whitecaps are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Comstock Park, Michigan, a suburb of Grand Rapids, and play their home games at LMCU Ballpar ...

of the

High-A Central The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizati ...

. After slashing .287/.376/.549 with eight home runs and 24 RBI over 32 games, he was promoted to the

Erie SeaWolves The Erie SeaWolves are an American professional baseball team based in Erie, Pennsylvania. They compete in Minor League Baseball (MiLB) as a member of the Eastern League's Southwest Division, serving as the Double-A affiliate of the Detroit Ti ...

of the Double-A Northeast on June 13. In early August, he was placed on the

injured list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 season, it was known as the disabled list (DL). General guidelines ...

with a finger injury. He returned to play in early September. Over 50 games with Erie, Dingler batted .202/.264/.314 with four home runs and twenty RBI. He returned to Erie for the 2022 season. He was selected to represent the Tigers at the 2022

All-Star Futures Game The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB) in conjunction with the mid-summer MLB All-Star Game. A team of American League-affiliated prospects competes against a team of National League- ...

. Over 107 games with Erie, Dingler slashed .238/.333/.419 with 14 home runs, 58 RBI, and 22 doubles. He was selected to play in the

Arizona Fall League The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season baseball league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are filled ...

for the

Salt River Rafters The Salt River Rafters are a baseball team that plays in the East Division of the Arizona Fall League. They play their home games at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick in the Salt River Pima–Maricopa Indian Community near Scottsdale, Arizona. ...

after the season. On March 16, 2023, it was reported that Dingler would be out for four weeks after undergoing a meniscectomy procedure on his right knee. After hitting .253 with 9 home runs and 41 RBI in 51 games for Double–A Erie, Dingler was promoted to the Triple–A

Toledo Mud Hens The Toledo Mud Hens are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Toledo, Ohio, and play their home games at Fifth Third Field. A baseball team nicknamed the ...

in August 15. In 26 games for Toledo, he hit .202 with three home runs and nine RBI. On November 14, 2023, the Tigers added Dingler to their

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...

to protect him from the

Rule 5 draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

. He was optioned to Triple–A Toledo to begin the 2024 season. On July 29, 2024, Dingler was promoted to the major leagues for the first time. Dingler's first career hit was an RBI double on July 29, 2024 against the

Cleveland Guardians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. Since , the team has played its home gam ...

. Dingler hit his first career home run on August 11 against the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

. Dingler batted .167/.195/.310 with 1 home run and 11 RBIs in the 2024 season with the Tigers. Dingler started the 2025 season splitting time with 2024 starting catcher

Jake Rogers Jake Rogers may refer to: * Jake Rogers (baseball) (born 1995), American baseball player * Jake Rogers (footballer) (born 2005), Australian rules footballer * Jake Wesley Rogers (born 1996), American musician {{hndis, Rogers, Jake ...

. However, Rogers went on the injured list and when he returned, Dingler was hitting and catching so well (.289 batting average, plus-6 Defensive Runs Saved rating as of May 29) that Dingler remained the starter, catching approximately twice as often as Rogers.

References

External links

Ohio State Buckeyes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dingler, Dillon 1998 births Living people Chillicothe Paints players Detroit Tigers players Erie SeaWolves players Lakeland Flying Tigers players Major League Baseball catchers Ohio State Buckeyes baseball players Salt River Rafters players Sportspeople from Massillon, Ohio Baseball players from Stark County, Ohio Toledo Mud Hens players West Michigan Whitecaps players