Y’know, not so long ago — literally, less than a year ago — folks were bemoaning the state of Detroit Tigers catching, which arguably had hit its lowest point since AJ Hinch, Brandon Inge and Matt Walbeck were suiting up behind the plate. (That would be 2003, for those blessedly too young to remember that squad.)
In 2020, no team got less out of its catchers, as Tigers backstops — mostly Austin Romine with a dash of Grayson Greiner and a sprinkle of Eric Haase — produced a last-in-MLB minus-0.5 WAR (in just 60 games). (The Royals got the most out of their catchers last year, with 2.1 WAR). This was not much of a change from 2019, in which Greiner, John Hicks, Jake Rogers and <shudder> Bobby Wilson combined for minus-2.0 WAR — last in the majors and more than 6 WAR behind the MLB’s best in Minnesota. And 2018? The Tigers were 29th in WAR from catchers, thanks to James McCann’s frightful season.
[ Will Al Avila buy or sell at the trade deadline? He has an open mind ]
This is why it was not entirely a surprise that the Tigers used their second-round draft pick in 2020 — first in the round, No. 38 overall — on a catcher: Dillon Dingler, out of THE <boo, hiss, Harbaugh> Ohio State University.
Hello, and welcome to the Tigers Catchers Newsletter.
What has been a surprise, if you’ll allow for our already pessimistic view, is how well Dingler has performed in his first six weeks in the minors. The 22-year-old entered Sunday with a .287/.376/.549 slash line at High-A West Michigan — where he’s still about half a year younger than the league average — that included 13 walks and eight homers in 32 games. He can hit a little bit, we’re saying.
[ Why Akil Baddoo ‘could be here to stay for a long time’ ]
As are the Tigers, who promoted him to Double-A Erie on Sunday, where he’ll join outstanding non-catcher Riley Greene. (Yeah, yeah, they promoted another guy, too. Torklewhatsit, or something, I don’t know.)
Of course, one of the arguments against drafting for positional need — unless that need is “once-in-a-generation right-hander,” and then you take Justin Verlander, yessir — is that by the time a draft pick is ready, you might not be weak at that position. For example: This year, you could make the argument the one offensive strength the Tigers have — Robbie Grossman walks aside — is at catcher. Their collective 0.6 WAR is 17th in the majors; it’s one of three offensive positions at which the Tigers have positive WAR. (Third base, at 0.7, and left field, at 1.2, are the others, but we’ll get to left field … now?)
Heck, they have so many catchers, they’re stashing them in left field — hi, Haase! — and on the mound. (Sorry, Rogers, you might not get a repeat pitching performance.)
Yes, Rogers hasn’t exactly been hitting — with a .216 batting average this year, we’d say he’s hitting like a pitcher, but, well, those two runs in his inning on the mound Saturday argue otherwise. But his bat has shown pop, with three homers in 51 at-bats. And, hey, he leads the AL in MARP (Mustache Above Replacement Player).
Meanwhile, Haase has an .899 OPS when he starts behind the plate this season (including three doubles and four homers). Of course, he has a 1.292 OPS when starting in left. Shoot, he was the Tigers’ only offense Sunday; he broke up Carlos Rodon’s bid for a second no-no this season with a double in the seventh inning, while every other Tiger went hitless.
And that’s without mentioning Wilson Ramos, who had an .876 OPS at catcher this season before heading back to the IL on May 24. (It’s also without mentioning Greiner, whose .599 OPS in 14 games shouldn’t exactly inspire the Tigers to rush him back from his own IL stint, which started May 12.)
Ramos is one of four Tigers catchers (minimum 20 games at the position) with an OPS above “The Lance Line” — the .786 OPS posted by Lance Parrish from 1977-86 — in the 35 seasons since Parrish last played for the Tigers. (The others? Mickey Tettleton, at .846 from 1991-94; Robert Fick, at .838 from 1998-2001; and Matt Nokes, at .803 from 1987-90.)
Add it all up, and it’s no wonder, as the Freep’s Evan Petzold reports here, the Tigers will face tough decisions behind the plate once Ramos is ready to return. Especially since, in 11 games as a DH this season, Ramos somehow has a .188 OPS.
Ouch. Even Hinch never struggled that badly.
Meanwhile, also in left field …
Of course, that 1.292 OPS for Haase in left field is misleading, since he only has six games there (albeit with four home runs). Grossman has the majority of the games there, with 38, followed by Akil Baddoo, who in 18 games at the position has a .528 OPS. He’s faring much better in center, however, with a 1.220 OPS in 21 games. (The bad: Baddoo has an insanely high .514 BAbip in his games as a center fielder. The good: He also has 12 walks in 71 plate appearances as a CF.) No wonder, as Our Man Petzold writes here, that Baddoo and the Tigers can see a future for him patrolling the wide open spaces of “Comerica National Park.”
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And in center …
Then again, center isn’t completely available, as Daz Cameron, who came over from Houston with Rogers in the 2017 Verlander trade, returned to the majors this week against his dad’s old team, the Mariners. Cameron already has a highlight-reel moment, with Friday’s game-tying ninth-inning homer, but he wants more. Click here to find out why he said, “I’m up for any challenge, honestly,” as Our Man Petzold reports.
And in the front office …
Today is Flag Day, which also marks roughly six weeks until the trade deadline — now on July 30, because GMs apparently didn’t want to work on a Saturday this year. That means GM Al Avila’s phone is starting to heat up, even though, as he told Our Man Petzold this week, “we still have to be open-minded on anything that can make us better as we move forward.” Click here to read why Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal — both of whom aren’t going anywhere, we’re pretty sure — could complicate a potential deal for the Tigers.
And in the dugout …
Cameron wasn’t the only Mud Hen to head up I-75. Triple-A hitting coach Mike Hessman, who holds the minor-league record for career homers, was promoted to assistant hitting coach with the big-league team (replacing Jose Cruz Jr., who’s leaving the organization to take over the baseball program at Rice, his alma mater in Houston). Our Man Petzold has the story here on how the Tigers’ own “Crash Davis” — think “Bull Durham” — will fit in in the majors.
3 more to watch
Here are three more players who have spent some extended time in the minors:
RHP JOSE CISNERO: From more than 560 innings in the minors to a 0.71 ERA over the past month.
RHP BUCK FARMER: Back in the majors Sunday after a 3.97 ERA in Triple-A.
3B ISAAC PAREDES: ‘I feel more mature now’ after 28 games in Triple-A.
Happy birthday, Big Wheel!
But back to catchers — Lance Parrish turns 65 on Tuesday! (Good timing for us newsletter writers, for sure.) Anyway, the man who led the 1984 World Series champs in homers (33) finished his Tigers career with a .263/.317/.469 slash line in 1,146 games over 10 seasons and made the AL All-Star team six times. His career with six other teams — after the politely termed “contract impasse” with the Tigers after the 1986 season sent him to Philadelphia — never matched his time in Detroit: A .703 OPS and just 112 homers in 842 games before winding it up for Toronto in 1995.
Other Tigers birthdays this week: Mike Fiers (36 on Tuesday), Tony Clark (49 on Tuesday), Ron LeFlore (73 on Wednesday), Matt Moore (32 on Friday), Eddie Cicotte (would have been 137 on Saturday; died in 1969), Bobby Seay (43 on Sunday).
Mark your calendar!
It’s a busy week for the Tigers, who are road-tripping it west, first with a three-game series in Kansas City on Monday-Wednesday, then with four games in Anaheim against an Angels squad missing Albert Pujols (now in Dodger Blue) and Mike Trout (still in Los Angeles Angels Red of Anaheim, but on the IL with a calf injury). The Angels are somehow 15-9 without Trout, possibly because they still have Shohei Ohtani on the mound and at DH. The double-duty star leads the AL in extra-base hits (35), is third in homers (17) and — oh yeah — has a 2.85 ERA with 68 strikeouts in 47⅓ innings pitched (averaging 12.9 strikeouts per nine innings, third in the majors if he had enough innings). He’s set to start on the mound against the Tigers on Thursday.
TL;DR
Sure, Ohtani is great, but he’s not leading his team in batting average and ERA like a certain Tiger we could name. (Hi, Harold Castro!) But can he catch?
Contact Ryan Ford at rford@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @theford.