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Carlos Collazo at Baseball America has a new mock draft up, and the Dodgers are projected to pick Ohio State catcher Dillon Dingler in the first round of the 2020 MLB Draft.
The draft this year was reduced to five rounds, down from the usual 40. The Dodgers have six picks, having acquired a Competitive Balance Round B pick from the Twins, and with it have a larger bonus pool than a few teams picking ahead of them.
The Dodgers pick 29th overall in the first round, and Collazo notes Dingler could be gone by the time LA picks. “The Ohio State product has everyday potential behind the plate and players with that skill set don’t last long,” he wrote.
Dingler hit .276/.367/.442 in parts of three years at Ohio State, including making second-team All Big Ten as a sophomore in 2019, hitting .291/.392/.424. The 6’3, 222-pound junior saw a power spike in 2020, hitting five home runs in 13 games before the season was canceled during the coronavirus pandemic. That’s two fewer home runs than he hit in 102 games in his first two seasons with the Buckeyes, though part of his power was sapped by a broken hamate bone as a sophomore.
Baseball America has Dingler ranked the 37th-best prospect in the draft, noting, “Dingler has always controlled the strike zone well throughout his Big 10 career (12.8 strikeout percentage, 11.6 walk percentage) but never really showed the ability to tap into his above-average raw power consistently in games.”
Dingler was a team captain for Ohio State as both a sophomore and junior.
“I was just trying to grow as a player and a leader,” Dingler told Josh Weir of InsideOnline. “You want to take one step further as you get another season under your belt.”
MLB.com ranks Dingler the 24th-best draft prospect, praising his above-average arm and noting, “His receiving also continues to improve and he shows more athleticism and mobility than most backstops.”
Dingler started 29 games in center field as a freshman for Ohio State, so he checks the Dodgers’ positional versatility box.