For a Major League Baseball team to take the next step as a unit, it needs players to break through on an individual level.
In Detroit, Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler has had one of the biggest breakout seasons in the major leagues.
And in large part because of Dingler, the Tigers head into this first week of June with the best record in baseball at 39-21.
The former Ohio State star is batting .299 with five home runs, 22 RBI and a 122 OPS+ (22 percent better than league average). Defensively, Dingler leads baseball in blocks above average and is in the 91st percentile in framing.
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It's an amazing rise for Dingler.
Last season, he played in 27 games for the Tigers and batted .167.
He didn't even enter this season as the assumed regular catcher, but Detroit can't take him out of the lineup now.
"I think this is who he is," Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told reporters on Sunday. "He's done this now for a long time. He finds a way to contribute on both sides of the ball. He's a really good catcher."
Hinch was an MLB catcher himself and clearly knows what it takes. It's obvious that Dingler has the right traits.
The Tigers will just be hoping he keeps this up. Because if their catcher can play like one of the best backstops in the league, it can go a long way toward Detroit chasing massive goals the rest of the season.
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