Dodgers Name Loons Roster for 2022

MIDLAND, Mich. – In conjunction with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Great Lakes Loons are pleased to announce the team’s preliminary roster for the 2022 season. The Opening Day roster will be finalized prior to Friday’s home opener when the Loons host the West Michigan Whitecaps at Dow Diamond.

PITCHERS (18): Aldry Acosta , Carlos Alejo, Jacob Cantleberry, Hyun-il Choi , Cole Duensing, Jose Hernandez, Michael Hobbs, Kyle Hurt, Antonio Knowles, Jordan Leasure, Lael Lockhart, Kevin Malisheski, Nick Nastrini, Cole Percival, Emmet Sheehan, Julian Smith, Gavin Stone, Ryan Sublette

CATCHERS (3): Ryan January, Kekai Rios, Juan Zabala

INFIELDERS (5): Zac Ching, Eddys Leonard, Leonel Valera, Imanol Vargas, Jorbit Vivas

OUTFIELDERS (5): Ismael Alcantara, Aldrich De Jongh, Jonny Deluca, Edwin Mateo, Joe Vranesh

Notes regarding the 2022 roster:

• 21 players (of 31) spent at least a portion of the 2021 season with Great Lakes
• Seven players were drafted by the Dodgers in the 2021 MLB First-Year Player Draft
• 12 players originate from outside the United States (6 Dominican Republic, 3 Venezuela, Colombia, Curacao, South Korea)
• Only five players have spent time with an organization other than the Dodgers
• Hyun-Il Choi was named Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year by the Dodgers in 2021
• Five Loons appear on MLB.com’s list of top 30 Dodgers prospects (Eddys Leonard – 8, Jorbit Vivas – 9, Nick Nastrini – 13, Gavin Stone – 18, Choi – 28)
• The same five appear on Baseball America’s list of top 30 Dodgers prospects (Leonard – 8, Nastrini – 16, Stone – 17, Vivas – 23, Choi – 30)
• Leonel Valera, the Loons’ career leader in games played at shortstop, returns for a third season in Midland
• Imanol Vargas (17), Jonny DeLuca (15), Leonard (14), and Vivas (13) were four of the top five home run hitters at Low-A Rancho Cucamonga in 2021
• Leonard, who opens the season as the consensus Loons’ top prospect, finished last season with Great Lakes and hit .297 between Rancho Cucamonga and the Loons
• Vivas played 23 games with the Loons last season and hit .312 in the 2021 season overall between Low- and High-A
• Cole Percival is the son of Troy Percival, a 14-year Major League alum and four-time All-Star

Austin Chubb, the first and only former Loons player to manage the club, returns for his second year as Loons manager in 2022, just the third skipper to manage more than one season in Midland. Chubb, 32, enters his sixth season coaching in the Dodgers' organization. The former catcher had a four-year minor league career, including a brief stop in Midland in 2015. In his first year as manager, Chubb led the Loons to a 63-57 record and amassed the best run differential in the High-A Central Eastern Division. Now entering his fifth season as a manager, Chubb sits at 195 career victories across all minor league levels.

David Anderson comes to Midland for the first time, serving as the Loons’ pitching coach for the 2022 season. Anderson, a 2015 graduate of Muhlenberg College, served as pitching coach for the Dodgers’ Arizona Complex League team last season. The 27-year-old gained four years of coaching experience at the collegiate level before joining the LA organization in 2020.

Dylan Nasiatka will serve as hitting coach for Great Lakes in 2022. The 32-year-old served in the same role for Low-A Rancho Cucamonga last season, leading the team to league highs in doubles, home runs, total bases, slugging percentage, and OPS. Nasiatka, a 2014 graduate of Cal State Bakersfield, joined the Dodgers’ system in 2020.

Richard De Los Santos joins the Dodgers’ organization for the first time as assistant pitching coach for the Loons in 2022. The 37-year-old had a nine-year minor league career as a right-handed pitcher, mostly in the Tampa Bay system. A native of the Dominican Republic, De Los Santos played a portion of the 2005 season for the Southwest Michigan Devil Rays, who would become the Loons two years later.

Former Loons and Dodgers infielder Elian Herrera returns to Midland as the Loons’ bench coach for a second season. The four-year big leaguer begins his fourth season as a coach within the Dodgers’ organization, with a previous stop in Rancho Cucamonga. Herrera was on the inaugural Loons team in 2007, joined by nine other future major league players.

Brad Tunney will be joined by Noah Wolf in the radio booth this season. All 132 Loons games can be heard on ESPN 100.9-

FM, ESPN1009.com, Loons.com and on your mobile device using the TuneIn App. Along with the radio broadcast, all games are streamed digitally via MiLB.TV.

The Great Lakes Loons have been a Single-A partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers since the team’s inception in 2007. Dow Diamond serves as the team’s home and also houses the Michigan Baseball Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity, and ESPN 100.9-FM. For tickets or information about the Loons, call 989-837-BALL or visit Loons.com.