Detroit Tigers All-Star Dillon Dingler returns to lineup from injury
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The Detroit Tigers' All-Star catcher is back in the lineup on Saturday, July 11, against the Philadelphia Phillies as the designated hitter. Dingler has missed the last two games after exiting Wednesday's win over the Athletics with a hand injury. Dingler had a fastball ricochet into his right hand behind the plate.
Dingler left that night for X-rays, which came back negative. The swelling on his right hand between his index finger and thumb has lessened and he has progressed well after hitting each of the last two days.
"Ding is going to DH today," manager A.J. Hinch said Saturday. "He threw yesterday, which is a good sign, and he has hit two days in a row now."
Dingler, 25, returns to the lineup a few days before makig the first All-Star appearance of his young career. He has been a consistent source of offense during the Tigers' inconsistent first half, hitting .264 with 19 home runs and 60 RBIs, while playing elite defense behind the dish.
Dingler said his hand has felt good after going through hitting and throwing drills, with his health coming down to how well he can grip a bat or the baseball.
"It feels fine," Dingler said.
He is one of four Tigers players to earn All-Star selections. Dingler and rookie shortstop Kevin McGonigle will be making their first All-Star appearances, while outfielder Riley Greene will make his third (in three straight years) and retiring right-hander Justin Verlander will make his 10th as a "legend pick" selected by MLB.
Dingler said he is taking things day by day to determine his status for next week's festivities in the City of Brotherly Love.
"My wife and my son are coming with me from here and I have family out east," Dingler said. "My cousins live out in Philly and my grandma lives out in New Jersey, so they are all already out there."
Dingler could return to the lineup as the catcher for Sunday's series finale. It depends on how his hand responds to Saturday's action.
"I'll either catch him or Jake [on Sunday]," Hinch said. "I'm expecting him, as long as he has a full day today, to be cleared."
While Dingler returns to the lineup as a DH, rookie Eduardo Valencia will be the catcher for right-hander Casey Mize. It is the first time Valencia has caught an MLB game after making his first two MLB appearances as a designated hitter.
Hinch said Valencia's defense has improved around the margins in pitch calling, throwing, blocking and framing, which was part of the equation in calling him up from Triple-A Toledo.
"We are trying to get him incrementally better," Hinch said. "And he did that. Especially around the tunneling of pitches and how he calls games.
"He didn't need to take a quantum leap to become Major-League useful. We've been talking about calling up Valencia for a while if we wanted to do the three-catcher thing. And a lot of that was because we saw marginal upgrades in all of these areas."
Contact Jared Ramsey at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers All-Star Dillon Dingler returns to lineup from injury