Tigers Sign Second-Rounder Dillon Dingler

11:34am: Dingler signed for the full slot value of $1,925,300, tweets Jim Callis of MLB.com.

11:24am: The Tigers announced Thursday that they’ve agreed to terms with second-round pick Dillon Dingler. As one would expect, bonus terms weren’t formally disclosed by the team, but Dingler’s slot value checks in at $1.95MM.

A catcher out of Ohio State, Dingler was regarded as a top 30 draft talent by each of ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel (No. 17), The Athletic’s Keith Law (No. 20), FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen (No. 29) and the teams over at Baseball America (No. 27) and MLB.com (No. 24). The 21-year-old, however, was still on the board for the Tigers with the top pick in the second round (No. 38 overall), and the Detroit org was surely thrilled to add another highly touted college position player to its already impressive stable of pitching prospects.

Dingler hit .340/.404/.760 with five homers, four doubles and a triple in just 13 games with the Buckeyes in 2020 before the season ground to a halt. After a pedestrian freshman season, he put himself on the map with a .291/.392/.424 slash in 2019 — a sign that he was perhaps tapping into the above-average raw power for which scouting reports credit him. Law calls Dingler the best defender among this year’s crop of catchers, and he even draws roughly average marks for his speed (45 at FanGraphs, 55 at MLB.com); Dingler swiped nine bags in a dozen tries in 62 games between 2019-20.

With Dingler on board, the Tigers have agreed to terms with three of their six picks. Third-rounder Trei Cruz and fifth-rounder Colt Keith agreed to deals that were a combined $116K over slot. Detroit still has to work out deals with No. 1 overall pick Spencer Torkelson, Competitive Balance (Round B) pick Daniel Cabrera and fourth-round pick Gage Workman. Of that bunch, Workman has already acknowledged that he intends to sign, although there’s no deal in place just yet (at least not one that has been announced or reported).