Detroit – This game is an unrelenting test of physical and mental toughness.
Tigers’ All-Star catcher Dillon Dingler is having a career season. He’s likely to get some MVP votes when it’s all said and done.
On the first six games of the Tigers’ West Coast swing, he went 12 for 30 with four home runs and 10 RBI. Then, inexplicably, his bat went cold. Entering play Saturday, he was 1 for 30 in his last seven games.
Baseball.
“Everybody goes through some holes during the season,” Dingler said. “Confidence is the biggest thing in this game. If you don’t have it, you’re not going to be a good player. And it doesn’t have to be unrealistic confidence. But you have to realize you are here for a reason. Just continue your work every day and stay at the same level.”
The grind of the season and the importance of these games don’t allow you to breathe, let alone take a step back and refresh. Dingler has played in 113 of the team’s 122 games. When he’s not catching, he’s the designated hitter.
Manager AJ Hinch is contemplating giving him a full day off, maybe next week in Pittsburgh, but, again, he said, maybe not. But he doesn’t think fatigue is an issue for Dingler in this stretch.
“I think it’s more just making good decisions on what to swing at,” Hinch said. “Indecision at the plate is something I saw in the (Cleveland) series which was unusual for him. I don’t think it was fatigue-based. … He’s built for all of this.”
Dingler said he was working through a few things, including, as Hinch said, making better swing decisions.
“We just have to figure it out and trying to maintain confidence,” Dingler said. “Trying to get a little better every day.”
After four rough at-bats against the Guardians Thursday where he struck out, rolled over to third base and popped out twice to first base, he started to get the barrel to the ball in his last three swings Friday, all fly outs.
“Obviously, the results weren’t there, but I felt a little more comfortable,” he said. “It’s a couple of different things, timing being one of them. I need to get back to shrinking the zone and looking for pitches I want to hit, pitches I’m able to drive.”
If it turned cold in a week, it can reheat in an instant. This is still the same guy who is one of four players in the game right now with at least 26 homers, 23 doubles and 81 RBI (Yordan Alvarez, C.J. Abrams and Sal Stewart). This is still the same catcher whose 5.2 WAR (FanGraphs) is fourth-best in baseball.
“It’s just part of the maturation,” Hinch said. “We want Ding in there. He changes decisions on the other side of (which pitchers) they bring in. He can handle this.”
Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
White Sox at Tiger
First pitch: 1:40 p.m., Comerica Park
TV/Radio: Detroit Sports Net, 97.1, 107.9
SCOUTING REPORT
RHP Sean Burke (7-6, 2.99), White Sox: He’s been rolling, posting a 1.47 ERA with 57 strikeouts and six walks over 43 innings in his last seven starts. He beat the Tigers on May 31, allowing a run and three hits in 5.1 innings. He’s a big man (6-6, 240) who can spin the baseball with the best of them. His 95-mph four-seamer rides with 2,500-rpm spin. Off that and a 95-mph sinker, he spins knuckle-curves and sliders. He’s a tough day at the office.
RHP Drew Anderson (4-4, 3.91), Tigers: This will be his third start since moving into the rotation. It’s not an easy thing, trying to build a pitch-count in the heat of a playoff chase. It’s not a training exercise. The build has to come with execution. He got up to 70 pitches against the Guardians last time out, which got him through four innings. He went 3.2 innings in Seattle. So both his starts were modified bullpen games, which isn’t sustainable. The hope is he can get to six innings in this one and be fully integrated into the rotation.
— Chris McCosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tigers’ Dillon Dingler grinding through first ‘hole’ of the season
Reporting by Chris McCosky, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Chris McCosky, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
