The Tigers have plenty of momentum right now, and Dillon Dingler’s bat is the one thing that has gone quiet at the wrong time.
Detroit is coming off its first series win over the Guardians this season and entered Friday sitting alone in the final American League Wild Card spot. With a sweep of the White Sox, the Tigers could even find themselves in first place in the AL Central by the end of Sunday.
A lot is going right in the lineup. Spencer Torkelson has been swinging a hot bat.
Eduardo Valencia has been driving the ball with authority. Max Clark has reached base in all but two games so far, and Kevin McGonigle is hot as ever.
Dingler, though, has disappeared at the plate over the past couple of weeks. Through Detroit’s finale against Cleveland, he had one hit in his last 27 at-bats after a blistering start to the month.
That stretch is not enough to raise real alarm about his season overall, and it certainly doesn’t change anything about what he’s done across the full year. But for a Tigers team trying to keep climbing, it would help a lot if he broke out of it against Chicago this weekend.
The slump has also shown up in smaller ways elsewhere. On Thursday, Dingler used up the Tigers’ last ABS challenge on a pitch that was 2.9 inches above the zone, even though he has been one of the game’s best with the challenge system - the best, according to Baseball Savant’s net overturns stat. He also shared a mental lapse with Kevin McGonigle in that game, when the two let a pop foul drop between them.
The dip is a sharp turn from what Dingler had been doing since June 1. From that date through Aug. 6, he hit .324 with a .972 OPS, production that made some regression inevitable. The only issue is that this one arrived at a time when the Tigers can least afford it.
Chris McCosky of the Detroit News reported Wednesday that Dingler was out on the field at Comerica for very early batting practice, a sign of how hard he’s working to get back on track. Tigers fans have also seen his frustration bubble up at times after at-bats.
There’s little doubt Dingler will snap out of it eventually. For Detroit, the hope is that it happens soon - maybe even this weekend against the White Sox.
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