The Dayton Dragons will celebrate a special year in 2025, their 25^th season of operation as a Cincinnati Reds affiliate in the Midwest League. The Dragons annual home “Opening Night” game is set for Tuesday, April 8 against the Fort Wayne TinCaps at 7:05 pm at Day Air Ballpark. The Dragons will officially open their season on the road in 2025, four days prior to their home opener, when they battle the West Michigan Whitecaps in Grand Rapids, Michigan at 6:35 pm on April 4.

Day Air Ballpark will host a major event prior to the start of the Dragons season when the Reds close out their spring training schedule with a game in Dayton at Day Air Ballpark on March 25 at 6:10 pm. The Reds will battle a team of minor league prospects in that game. This will be the fourth visit to Dayton by the Reds, who also closed out their spring schedule at Day Air Ballpark in 2007, 2009, and 2017.

The Dragons will again play a 132-game schedule in 2025 including 66 home games. After winning the East Division second half title in 2024, the Dragons hope for their fifth straight winning season this spring and summer. The Dragons are one of 12 teams in the Midwest League, a circuit that is again classified as “High-A” and features two divisions, each with six teams. Over the next four weeks, we will provide an eight-part positional preview of the candidates for the Dragons 2025 roster. For Dragons season ticket or group ticket information, go to daytondragons.com/tickets or call (937) 228-2287.

Spring training is currently underway in Goodyear, Arizona, with 175 minor league players in competition for roster spots within the Cincinnati Reds organization. Additionally, there are 40 players on the Reds major league roster training in Goodyear, for a total of 215 players currently battling for Reds major league or minor league roster spots.

Reds full-season affiliates in 2025 are the same as they have been for the past four seasons. Each Reds minor league team will play a spring schedule from March 10-29. The Dragons will arrive in Dayton on April 1.

Louisville Bats (Triple-A)

Chattanooga Lookouts (Double-A)

Dayton Dragons (High-A)

Daytona Tortugas (Single-A)

Some players who do not earn spots on any of the four affiliate rosters will continue to work at the spring training complex in Arizona in what is commonly referred to as “Extended Spring Training,” playing an informal schedule against players from other organizations before a fifth Reds farm club, the Arizona Complex League Reds, begins its season in May.

This is part one of an eight-part series previewing the 2025 Dragons. Players listed here are candidates for positions on the Dragons season-opening roster.

This preview is an unofficial projection of possible roster candidates. Minor League rosters are not established until April 1. Spring training variables including performance, injuries, trades, and additional player acquisitions will impact the roster accordingly.

The Catchers

Click links on each name for career stats and player information.

Candidates: Connor Burns, Logan Tanner, Cade Hunter

The three most likely candidates to be assigned to Dayton at the catcher position, Connor Burns, Logan Tanner, and Cade Hunter, are all players with previous experience with the Dragons. It is possible that one of the three could make the Double-A roster with Chattanooga, but barring injuries, the Reds seem to have enough players at this position to assign three catchers to Louisville and three more to Chattanooga, creating a scenario that would see Burns, Tanner, and Hunter return to Dayton. Hunter is a very versatile player and if he does return, it is likely that he sees plenty of action at first base and perhaps some time as a corner outfielder as well.

Among the players in line for spots in Louisville or Chattanooga are former Dragons Michael Trautwein, Mat Nelson, and Eric Yang, along with veteran free agent pickups Austin Wynns, Will Banfield, and Andy Yerzy.

Burns, Tanner, and Hunter were all high draft picks by the Reds. Hunter, the Reds fifth round pick in 2022 out of Virginia Tech, first arrived in Dayton late in the 2023 season and then spent all of 2024 with the Dragons. Tanner, the Reds second round selection in ’22 out of Mississippi State, spent the first four months of the 2024 season with the Dragons, playing through an injury for part of the season that eventually ended his year on August 7. Burns, who replaced Tanner in Dayton for the final month of the season and caught both playoff games, was the Reds fifth round pick in 2023 out of Long Beach State.

Interestingly, Burns was a semi-finalist for the Buster Posey Award (top catcher in college baseball) in 2023, while both Tanner and Hunter were semi-finalists in 2022. In 2021, former Dragons catcher Mat Nelson, then with Florida State, was the winner of the award.

Connor Burns is currently the highest-rated prospect among the three catchers profiled here, based largely on his elite level of defense. Baseball America ranks Burns as the Reds #25 prospect overall, and their #2 catching prospect behind Alfredo Duno, a 19-year-old future star who will likely begin the year with Low-A Daytona and could see time with the Dragons later in 2025. Burns was chosen by Baseball America as the Reds best defensive catcher, and their scouting report on his work behind the plate is sparkling, stating that his “defense draws the kind of praise that is almost never said about a Class A catcher…his defense is MLB-ready right now thanks to exceptional hands, excellent pitch framing and a plus-plus arm.” Burns also gets elite grades for his leadership and handling of pitchers, qualities that were easy to see with the Dragons in 2025. Several scouts have commented that if Burns reaches the big leagues as a starter, he will be an immediate threat to win a Gold Glove award. For Burns to achieve that level, he will need to make big improvements in his game as a hitter.

Burns spent three years at Long Beach State in the Big West Conference, and after two years of struggles at the plate, he made huge improvements as a junior in 2023. That season, he hit .307 in 55 games, up from .162 as a sophomore in 2022. He also added 14 home runs in 2023 and posted an OPS of .982. He won the conference Defensive Player of the Year in both 2022 and ’23, becoming the first player in Big West history to win the award two times. He was a first team all-conference pick in 2023 and the Reds took him in the fifth round of the draft.

Burns began the 2024 season with Daytona and played in 68 games, batting .195 with eight home runs. He moved up to the Dragons in August and appeared in another 22 games, batting .143 with one home run. If Burns can show a little improvement as a hitter, he will likely reach the Major Leagues eventually, at least as a backup, because of his defense. In an emergency, the Reds could call him up now and be confident that he would provide strong defense. If Burns could take a big jump offensively, similar in any way to the jump he made at Long Beach State between 2022 and ’23, he will fly up the prospect list.

Logan Tanner was the Dragons starting catcher for most of the 2024 season. Tanner is often singled out for his outstanding “team-first” attitude and his excellent work ethic and commitment. He is a player that manager Vince Harrison Jr. holds in high regard despite major struggles offensively in Dayton in 2024.

Tanner was selected by the Reds in the second round of the 2022 draft out of Mississippi State University, where he helped the Bulldogs to the 2021 College World Series championship (national title) as a sophomore, leading the team in home runs with 15 including one in the title game against Vanderbilt. He also played for USA Baseball’s College National Team in the summer of 2021. After signing with the Reds, Tanner spent the entire 2023 season at Single-A Daytona, where he played in 65 games and batted .202 with two home runs and an OPS of .611.

He moved up to the Dragons in 2024 and appeared in 69 games, playing through an injury that shut down his season one month early. With the Dragons, Tanner hit .185 with seven home runs and an OPS of .640. His biggest hit came on June 15 when he delivered a walk-off single to drive in Cade Hunter from second base with the winning run, capping a big ninth inning comeback against Great Lakes. Tanner played very good defense all year, generally limiting the opposing running game with his strong arm. Tanner does not quite match Burns defensively, but his defense is strong enough to get him to the Major Leagues in some capacity if he can show improvement as a hitter. It should be noted that new Reds manager Terry Francona has traditionally been willing to sacrifice some offense from his catchers while prioritizing quality defense.

Cade Hunter is profiled here as a catcher, his primary position, but if the Dragons open the season with Burns, Tanner, and Hunter all on the roster, Hunter has the versatility to be an everyday player while playing multiple positions. Hunter spent the entire 2024 season with the Dragons, generally serving as the second catcher on the roster (first behind Tanner and later behind Burns) while still starting over 100 games overall. He started 45 games at catcher, 42 at first base, 14 in left field, and six in right field.

The Reds had drafted Hunter in the fifth round in 2022 after a huge college season at Virginia Tech. Cade Hunter’s father, Scott, is the Amateur Scouting Director for the Seattle Mariners.

Cade helped Virginia Tech to the #3 ranking in the country entering the NCAA tournament. The Hokies eventually fell one win short of qualifying for the College World Series as Hunter batted .330 with 17 home runs, 66 runs batted in, and 11 stolen bases in 58 games. Hunter split the 2023 season between Daytona and the Dragons, batting a combined .238 with 15 home runs in 104 games.

Hopes were high that Hunter would build on those numbers in a return to the Dragons in 2024, but it was not to be, perhaps due in part to the broad responsibilities placed on his shoulders to play multiple positions while also maintaining a key role as a catcher, a position that carries daily work in developing a game plan to attack the opposing hitters with pitch calling. Hunter likely has a future in coaching if he wants it, but his present-day focus is on developing his skills as a player. In 107 games with the Dragons in 2024, he batted .196 with seven home runs. He is a much better natural hitter than those numbers would indicate.

Next up: First Basemen