A.J. Hinch: Cancel the All-Star Game if Dillon Dingler isn't in it

To A.J. Hinch, it's pretty simple: "If Dillon Dingler’s not an All-Star, then we should cancel the game."

"I really believe that," Hinch said Wednesday on 97.1 The Ticket. "He’s the best catcher in the game right now."

And it's really not close. Dingler isn't just leading big-league catchers in fWAR (3.8) this season; he's tied for third among all position players entering Wednesday's action, trailing only Pete Crow-Armstrong and Bobby Witt Jr. And he isn't just pacing his position; the gap is so wide that more than 30 players separate Dingler and the next closest catcher, Shea Langeliers of the A's.

Which makes it all the more silly that Dingler didn't even advance to Phase 2 of fan voting for the All-Star Game. (If it makes Dingler fans feel any better, neither did Crow-Armstrong!) The top two vote-getters among American League catchers, one of whom will be named the starter, were Langeliers and Alejandro Kirk of the Blue Jays.

Kirk, a deserving All-Star last year, has played 18 games this season and is batting .188. Toronto fans have stuffed the ballots all the same, to the point that the sub-.500 Jays have eight players up for starting positions including the leading AL vote-getter in second baseman Ernie Clement, who's having a fine season but ranks 14th in the majors at his position in fWAR.

We digress.

Langeliers is a worthy All-Star, tied for first among AL catchers in homers -- with guess who? -- and touting an .818 OPS. He's in line to start in Philadelphia. That's fine: give the fans what they want. But give the game what it deserves.

Dingler is a legitimate MVP candidate more than halfway through the season, dominating his position in every which way.

"He’s playing at the top of the game at a position that’s really hard to play," Hinch, the former catcher, said Tuesday before Dingler picked up two more hits in the Tigers' win over the Yankees. "I say that with all respect to every position, as catcher-biased as I am. He’s doing incredible things. For a player who came up with an enormous defensive reputation, won a Gold Glove (last season), caught in the biggest moments for us, offensively, he’s been as close to carrying us as any player in our lineup. And he’s been very consistent with very little rest.

"He needs to be in Philadelphia, I think everybody knows that. How he gets there is a work in progress over the next two weeks."

In all likelihood, Dingler will get there via the player ballot, which selects the All-Star Game reserves at each position (eight pitchers, nine position players). No other AL catcher measures up at the plate: Dingler is either first or tied for first in average (.264), OPS (.856) home runs (19) and RBI (59); he's actually third among all AL hitters in the latter category.

And behind the plate, between his framing, pitch-calling, challenging and throwing skills, Dingler is making a case for another Gold Glove. No catcher is better at stealing strikes just outside the zone and stealing back strikes just inside the zone. He's tied for first among AL catchers in framing value, per Baseball Savant, and first in successful challenges vs. expected. He's winning more than 70 percent of his challenges as a catcher.

If his peers are paying attention, Dingler will indeed be in Philadelphia later this month.

Hinch on Wednesday stumped for four more All-Star Game candidates for the Tigers, including two others who didn't crack Phase 2 of balloting among position players.

"Kevin McGonigle in his rookie year, you never want to say shoo-in, but we don’t keep the WAR stat for no reason. He's been terrific," said Hinch.

McGonigle is second to Witt Jr. among AL shortstops in fWAR (3.4) and fourth among all AL position players.

Hinch also brought up Riley Greene, who's second among AL outfielders in average (.288) and third to Byron Buxton and Mike Trout in OPS (.828) -- but sixth in fWAR.

And on the mound, Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize. The question for both is whether they've made enough starts to warrant real consideration after missing time with injuries. Neither one has thrown enough innings to qualify among the league leaders. If they had, Mize would rank third in the AL in ERA (2.63), while Skubal would be tied for seventh in ERA (3.15) and first in strikeout to walk ratio.

"Casey Mize, again, somebody who’s missed time, but he has a huge argument to be one of the pitchers, whether it’s named on the front end or maybe there are some replacements and things like that," said Hinch. "Those are the guys that I would say have the best case."