Two of the Detroit Tigers‘ top prospects saw late action in Saturday’s All-Star Futures Game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
Catcher Dillon Dingler and right-handler Wilmer Flores, who both play for Double-A Erie, entered the contest during the final two innings for the American League in its seven-inning 6-4 win over the National League.
Dingler, the Tigers’ No. 3 prospect according to MLB Pipeline and the No. 38 pick in the 2020 draft out of Ohio State, grounded out to second base with one out in his lone at-bat of the night in the top of the sixth inning. He then played behind the plate for the rest of the sixth inning and all of the seventh inning.
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In nine games this month with the SeaWolves, Dingler is 6-for-31 with a home run, double triple and eight RBIs. He has a career batting average of .238 in the minor leagues with 20 total homers.
Flores, the younger brother of San Francisco Giants infielder Wilmer Flores, entered in the bottom of the seventh to try and close out the AL victory.
He retired the first batter he faced, Phillies prospect Logan O’Hoppe, on a grounder to short, but soon ran into trouble. The next batter, Cubs outfield prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong (who was acquired by Chicago from the New York Mets last season for not-Tigers shortstop Javier Báez) doubled to left. Flores then advanced Crow-Armstrong to third on a balk with Milwaukee Brewers prospect Joey Wiemer at the plate. On an 0-1 pitch, Wiemer lofted a ball to right to allow Crow-Armstrong to score from third on a sac fly. That was it for Flores, who was replaced by New York Yankees prospect Ken Waldichuk, who got the final out, a flyout to left by Brewers prospect Jackson Chourio.
The Tigers signed Flores for $20,000 as an undrafted free agent in July 2020. The 21-year-old began the season with High-A West Michigan and was promoted to Double-A in mid-May. With the SeaWolves, Flores has 52 strikeouts and eight walks over 42 innings with a 2.36 ERA. The Arizona Western College product has a career minor-league ERA of 2.96.
Chandler Engelbrecht is a reporting intern at The Detroit Free Press and can be reached at CEngelbrecht@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @ctengelbrecht.