Dillon Dingler’s hot start has been impossible to ignore. The Tigers catcher is leading the team in RBIs, shutting down the running game, and emerging as one of the most complete backstops in the league. But it’s his work with MLB’s Automated Ball-Strike system that’s turning heads. Whether at the plate or behind it, Dingler is winning challenges at an elite rate, routinely identifying pitches that miss the zone by fractions of an inch—much to the frustration of opposing pitchers and catchers alike.
*** Now chatting in #ChallengeAccepted ***
DingleAllTheWay: alright
that’s another RBI
and another caught stealing
and another ABS win
just another normal day
OpposingBackstop: NORMAL??
you just took a pitch that missed by like…
a single atom
I framed that PERFECTLY
DingleAllTheWay: ball was off the plate
0.3 inches
outside black
I saw it
OpposingBackstop: YOU DID NOT SEE THAT
you don’t have eagle eyes
you have WIFI
*** abs_robot has entered the chat ***
abs_robot: challenge initiated
processing strike zone parameters
calculating human frustration levels
abs_robot: result: ball
miss by: 0.27 INCHES
catcher frame job: very cute, but insufficient
OpposingBackstop: THIS IS RIGGED
HE’S HACKING THE ZONE
CHECK HIS HELMET
DingleAllTheWay: i just see it man
zone talks to me
whispers “ball”
i listen
*** HEY GUYS THIS IS JI
*** JIM THOME has entered the chat ***
WORDUPTHOME: HEY GUYS THIS IS JI
JIM THOME
WORDUPTHOME: I USED TO GUESS
SOMETIMES I WAS RIGHT
SOMETIMES I WAS VERY NOT RIGHT
THIS MAN IS OUT HERE PLAYING LASER TAG WITH THE STRIKE ZONE
OpposingBackstop: he challenged one that HIT THE CORNER
I HEARD LEATHER
I FELT PRIDE
AND THEN—
abs_robot: correction
you felt false hope
abs_robot: result: ball
miss by: 0.12 INCHES
recomendation: cope
OpposingBackstop: I’M LOSING MY MIND
*** pr0FF3ss0r_F4rnsw0rth has entered the chat ***
pr0FF3ss0r_F4rnsw0rth: i don’t like this
back in my day if it looked close
it WAS a strike
or at least we yelled until it was
DingleAllTheWay: challenge system don’t care about yelling
only truth
pr0FF3ss0r_F4rnsw0rth: i’m gonna challenge the robot
see how it likes it
abs_robot: challenge denied
reason: you are not the main character
*** MLB_NewsBot has entered the chat ***
MLB_NewsBot: Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler leads league in successful ABS challenges
Opposing catchers reportedly experiencing “existential framing crisis”
OpposingBackstop: i framed that pitch like the mona lisa
and he just… deletes it
DingleAllTheWay: numbers don’t lie
neither do i
WORDUPTHOME: THIS MAN ISN’T JUST SEEING THE BALL
HE’S SEEING THE FUTURE
AND THE FUTURE SAYS “BALL FOUR”
*** abs_robot has left to monitor microscopic injustice ***
*** OpposingBackstop has left to practice framing in front of a mirror ***
*** pr0FF3ss0r_F4rnsw0rth has left to argue with a radar gun ***
*** WORDUPTHOME has left to measure the strike zone with a ruler and hope ***
*** DingleAllTheWay has left to win another challenge before logging off ***