LAKELAND, Fla. -- Dillon Dingler has not yet received the Gold Glove Award he won last fall, but as he talked with reporters on Wednesday morning ahead of the Tigers’ first official workout of Spring Training, he at least has his gold glove of sorts. He dug into his locker to find his new catching mitt, complete with a gold patch to note his honor. It stood out against the black color of the Rawlings mitt.
Dingler, a believer in breaking in his new gloves in Spring Training, put the mitt into quick use while catching Casey Mize during his bullpen session Wednesday morning. For now, catching bullpens is about the extent of his on-field work in camp. Dingler is still working his way through a throwing program after undergoing arthroscopic surgery to clean up his right elbow a couple weeks ago.
The procedure is not expected to impact Dingler’s readiness for Opening Day. Aside from throwing, he is cleared for all other baseball activity. He had a similar procedure two years ago and was ready for Opening Day 2024 with Triple-A Toledo.
“Dillon will catch 'pens,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “I think we’ll be cautious with the volume. He’s not quite throwing to full speed yet coming out of surgery.”
Dingler said he felt a little bit of discomfort working out in mid-January and decided to consult with the Tigers’ medical staff rather than risk it becoming a problem during the season.
“It’s just going to cost me a little bit of spring,” said Dingler. “Duncan [Evans], our physical therapist, is getting me right every day. Doing a lot of things, throwing, hitting, working back into the progression with everything, but everything feels good.
“Of everything that goes wrong with baseball players, it’s a totally minor thing, so I’m happy for that.”
By catching bullpen sessions, Dingler should be able to get up to speed with new battery mates Framber Valdez, Justin Verlander and Kenley Jansen. Dingler already made his introduction to Velrander shortly after news came out Tuesday afternoon that the Tigers had signed him.
“You know how we all show up a little early to camp,” Dingler said. “I was doing a little bit of rehab in the training room. I think I saw it on Instagram, and then 10 minutes later, I saw him. So that was pretty cool. We’re all excited, obviously.”
Though Dingler has to wait a little bit for his Gold Glove Award, he already has some hardware from this spring. He received a watch from Tarik Skubal as a gift for Skubal’s 2025 AL Cy Young Award victory. Skubal bought matching watches for himself and catcher Jake Rogers last spring following his first Cy Young Award in '24. This time, he bought watches for both Dingler and Rogers.