The Dayton Dragons continue preparations for their historic 25^th season at Day Air Ballpark. The Dragons 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.

Minor League spring training games are ongoing in Arizona and continue through March 29. There are roughly 180 minor league players currently in competition for roster spots within the Reds organization in Arizona.

This is part six of an eight-part positional preview of the candidates for the Dragons 2025 roster. 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.

Minor League News Updates: Cam Collier, an all-star with the Dragons in 2024, has been placed on the 60-day injured list by the Reds after suffering a hand injury earlier this month in spring training in Arizona. Collier would have been expected to start the year in Chattanooga as the Lookouts starting first baseman. He will not be eligible to play until sometime in May. Other former Dragons placed on the 60-day injured list include pitchers Tejay Antone, Johnathan Harmon, and Dennis Boatman.

For Dragons season ticket or group ticket information, go to daytondragons.com/tickets or call (937) 228-2287.

The Outfielders

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

Candidates: Carlos Jorge, Yerlin Confidan, Ariel Almonte, Esmith Pineda

While several positions in the Dragons lineup in 2025 will have a familiar look to Dayton fans, with players who are repeating the High-A level in ’25 after playing here in 2024, the outfield position will likely have a much different look. A case could be made to move up to Double-A Chattanooga each of the four Dayton outfielders from 2024: Jay Allen II, Hector Rodriguez, Ethan O’Donnell, and Carlos Jorge. The majority of that group likely will move up, but it might be difficult to envision a scenario where all four move up. For all four Dayton outfielders from 2024 to accept promotions to Chattanooga in 2025, it would require an almost total vacancy for the Double-A club at that position, and that does not appear to be the way things will play out, in light of the domino effect for outfielders within the Reds organization.

The Triple-A Louisville team will likely return at least three outfielders from 2024 (counting veteran Will Benson among that group, though Benson spent all of 2024 with the Reds; also expected to return to Louisville are former Dragon Rece Hinds, and either Jacob Hurtubise or Blake Dunn (if not both). That would create a scenario where the 2024 Double-A outfielders, Austin Hendrick, Justice Thompson, and Jack Rogers, are batting this spring for a chance just to start the 2025 season back in Chattanooga, with the talented Dayton group from 2024 right behind them. Figure three of the four ’24 Dayton outfielders move up, and one returns to Dayton.

Dragons 2024 outfielder Ethan O’Donnell was a Midwest League all-star and is probably a lock to move up, and the same could be said for Hector Rodriguez, who also could have just as easily been part of the end-of-season 2024 MWL All-Star team. That leaves Jay Allen II and Carlos Jorge as considerations for one more opening in the Double-A outfield. Allen is a little older and first made his way to Dayton late in the 2022 season, and he is probably ready for a Double-A assignment. Jorge could be too, but he would appear to be the most likely of the four to return to Dayton.

Carlos Jorge is a compelling prospect with a very high ceiling as a future Major League player, but he is also a player with elements of his game that need work. Jorge was just 20 years old with the Dragons in 2024 in his first full season at the High-A level. He was also making the transition from second base to center field, a position change that went better than almost anyone could have imagined. Jorge gradually started to make the move to the outfield at the end of the 2023 season with the Dragons, getting a couple of starts per week in center, while still making four starts per week at second base. When 2024 rolled around, the ratio had reversed. He was in center field for four days per week, and at second base for two. But Jorge looked so good defensively in the outfield, right from the start of the 2024 season, that it quickly became rather obvious that his future was in center, not at second base, and his days as an infielder were over before the end of April.

It is quite misleading to look only at statistics as a measuring stick for Jorge’s value to the Dragons in 2024. At times, Jorge was one of the league’s most impactful players, making plays on the field that carried some resemblance to another former Dragon, Elly De La Cruz. Jorge’s defense in center field was absolutely sensational as he took to the new position like he had played it for years, making tough plays look easy and occasionally coming up with game-changing moments that very few Midwest League players could deliver. There were times when Jorge seemed to take over a game, with a huge play on defense or a clutch home run that lifted the Dragons to a comeback win. But at other times, Jorge struggled as a hitter, unable to lay off high pitches that were out of the strike zone, causing his batting average to fall and his strikeout numbers to rise.

One of Jorge’s best games with the Dragons in 2024 was his last game on August 11. He made an incredible throw from the outfield to nail a runner at the plate, arguably the best throw by a Dayton player all season. He followed that with a lunging catch that would rank among the top two or three plays by a Dragons outfielder in 2024. Then, he made an impact running the bases on multiple plays in the same inning. Anyone who watched the game had to come away thinking Jorge was a player that belonged at another level. But in the same game, he suffered an injury on a slide that turned out to result in his season coming to an early end with a month still to play.

Again, Jorge’s statistics looked modest. He finished the year with a batting average of just .220. He had 125 strikeouts in 355 at-bats. He connected on 12 home runs, many in crucial moments. He also stole 28 bases. With all that being said, conversations about the Dragons with opposing coaches often turned to Jorge, a player that, if seen on the right day, would convince you that he will someday become a star in the Reds outfield.

If Jorge returns to the Dragons in 2025 to play center field, he will be fascinating to watch because of the potential for massive improvements in his game. He was considered a Reds top-10 prospect going into the 2024 season, but he fell off that perch because of his modest stats last year. He could regain his status with a strong showing in 2025.

Ariel Almonte is another extremely interesting prospect in the Reds system with a very high upside despite some struggles. Those same words were once used to describe former Dragons outfielder Jose Siri, who became one of the best players ever to wear a Dayton uniform. Almonte spent the 2024 season at Single-A Daytona, where the contrast in Almonte’s statistics were rather stark. On the one hand, he was all over the leader board in several key offensive categories. He belted 20 home runs, second most in the Florida State League. His 42 extra base hits tied for the league lead. He ranked third in RBI with 66. On the other hand, he batted just .199 and struck out 163 times in 432 at-bats.

Almonte signed with the Reds as an international free agent from the Dominican Republic prior to the 2021 season. He was a top-30 prospect in the Reds season for four straight years. Almonte saw the majority of his time in right field with Daytona in 2024 but also played some left field. He typically hit fourth in the batting order. He bats left-handed and has excellent size at 6’4, 245 lbs.

Yerlin Confidan is another talented outfielder who would be making his High-A debut if he starts with the Dragons in 2025, a scenario that seems likely. Like Almonte, Confidan has good size at 6’4”, 212 lbs. He signed with the Reds as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic in July of 2019 and is now 22 years old. Confidan had a huge season in the Reds system in 2021 and established himself as a legitimate prospect. That year, he was selected as the Most Valuable Player of the Arizona Complex League with the Reds affiliate, batting .315 with a league-leading 11 home runs in 50 games. He also led the ACL in slugging percentage at .573.

Confidan spent the next three seasons with Single-A Daytona and struggled to build on his success of 2021 while batting some injuries. He missed most of the 2022 season, then went back to Daytona in ’23 and again missed large chunks of the season while batting only .197 with three home runs in 74 games. His third year with Daytona in 2024 also started with less than desirable results, but the light came on for Confidan in the second half of the season. At the end of the first half, Confidan was batting just .191 with only 10 extra base hits and three stolen bases. But when the second half began on June 21, Confidan began to look like a different player. He hit .284 in the second half with 29 extra base hits and 13 stolen bases (as noted in earlier position previews, the Florida State League produced a .229 league average in terms of batting average in 2024). Confidan mostly hit in the lead-off spot in the Daytona batting order in 2024 and split his time between left field and center field.

No description of Confidan could conclude without noting that he produces some of the hardest hit balls in the entire Reds organization. Doug Gray at RedsMinorLeagues.com broke down the exit velocity numbers of all Reds minor league players in 2024 and found that, based on available data, Confidan hit the ball harder than any Major League or Minor League player in the Reds organization last season. According to Gray, the top 50 percent of Confidan’s batted balls in play in 2024 averaged 104.5 mph, which would have ranked 11^th among all Major League players and topped the 103.0 mph of Elly De La Cruz that led the Reds. The next two minor league players on the list behind Confidan were Rece Hinds and the player we just profiled, Ariel Almonte.

Esmith Pineda joined Almonte and Confidan in the Daytona outfield in 2024, playing both left field and right field, usually hitting fifth in the batting order. Pineda is a native of Panama who signed with the Reds as an international free agent before the 2022 season. At age 20, he is the youngest player in this preview. Like Confidan, Pineda made big improvements over the course of the season at Daytona in 2024, playing like a different guy late in the year. Through August 2, Pineda was hitting just .185, but over the final five weeks of the season, he batted .289 in 97 at-bats to finish the year at .213. He added nine home runs and nine stolen bases. Pineda might need a very good spring to earn a spot in Dayton at the start of the 2025 season, but even if he begins the season back in Daytona, he could easily be a player who joins the Dragons later in the year.

Cade Hunter has been previewed at other positions in this series, and he could also see time as a corner outfielder with the Dragons in 2025. Hunter, whose primary position is catcher and also plays first base, started 20 games in the outfield for the Dragons in 2024.

Center fielder Malvin Valdez is considered to be one of the fastest players in the Reds farm system and was, at one time, a very highly-regarded prospect. But Valdez will need to improve as a hitter to see time at Day Air Ballpark. His career batting average since he signed prior to the 2021 season is just .202, though he has 77 stolen bases and plays good defense.

The Reds drafted outfielders Myles Smith (7^th round, UC Irvine) and Anthony Stephan (13^th round, University of Virginia) in 2024. Both players had good college seasons last spring. Smith, in fact, was the Big West Conference Player of the Year and batted .401 with 10 home runs. The Reds have traditionally started players taken toward the middle of the draft at Daytona in their first professional seasons, but either of the two could break tradition and jump into the Dragons outfield picture in 2025.

Next up: Starting Pitchers