10 hours ago
Sometimes, injuries are opportunities. Baseball abounds with stories of starting players who suffered an injury only to see a younger player seize the opportunity and push them permanently to a parttime role. To a lesser degree, this is the dynamic between Jake Rogers and his former understudy. Dillon Dingler has seized the reins, hit the cover off the baseball Norm Cash Jersey, and proven himself one of the top defensive catchers in baseball over the last five weeks. Whenever Rogers returns, the split in playing time may still favor Dingler unless his bat really cools and Rogers heats up. Either way, its pretty clear that Dinglers time is always expected Dingler to be a very good defensive catcher. The arm strength, intelligence, work ethic, and athleticism were never in question. Frankl, national and local prospect writers, including myself, undervalued his defensive value as a prospect. Sure there have been questions about the bat Tommy Kahnle Jersey, and Dinglers hitting really stalled out for two years at the DoubleA level. But his defense was always likely to make him at least an average major league player as long as he cleared the pretty low bar for catcher offense. He probably shouldve gotten more top 100 prospect love nationally heading into this season. The bat just kept everyone a little wary until he broke out at the TripleA level in we are in midMay, and Dingler has already been worth 1.2 fWAR. Baseball Reference has him a bit lower at 0.9 wins above replacement, but either way hes on track for a four to five win season if he keeps things up.