Dragons 2022 Preview: Part 2—First Basemen

It is a milestone day in the process of selecting the 2022 Dayton Dragons. Today is the final phase for Minor League players to report to the Cincinnati Reds spring training camp in Goodyear, Arizona. In mid-February, 60 Reds prospects reported as early camp attendees, and last Tuesday, all remaining minor league pitchers and catchers arrived in Goodyear. Today, all remaining minor league position players were due at the Reds spring training complex, giving the Reds 174 prospects in camp. Those players will compete for spots on the rosters of the four Reds full-season affiliates, including the High-A Dayton Dragons.

Each Reds minor league team will play a 16-game spring schedule from March 17-April 3. The Dragons will arrive in Dayton on April 4.

The Dragons will open their 22nd season on Friday, April 8th against the Fort Wayne TinCaps at 7:05 p.m. at Day Air Ballpark.

This is part two of an eight-part series previewing the 2022 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 4. Spring training variables including performance, injuries, trades, and additional player acquisitions will impact the roster accordingly.

The First Basemen

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

Candidates: Alex McGarry, Garrett Wolforth, Leonardo Seminati.

Of all positions on the diamond, first base is the spot that has received the least amount of attention from the Reds with their draft picks since 2008, when they took University of Miami first baseman Yonder Alonso in the first round. The reason is fairly obvious—Joey Votto. The Reds have had a long-term star at the first base position to solidify the spot for more than a decade, and they have looked elsewhere when their time came to make their early draft selections.

Going into the 2021 draft, the Reds had waited until after the 20th round before selecting a first baseman over the previous 10 years. They took future Dragons Nick O’Shea in the 24th round (2011); Paul Kronenfeld in the 25th round (2014); James Vasquez in the 25th round (2015); and Bruce Yari in the 24th round (2016). Then in 2021, the Reds selected San Jose State University first baseman Ruben Ibarra in the fourth round, by far the highest draft pick utilized on a first baseman by the Reds since Alonso was selected in the opening round 13 years before. Ibarra is a 290-pound thumper who finished second in the nation in slugging percentage in 2021 and could be a candidate to play for the Dragons in 2022. With just 31 games of professional experience, Ibarra might be more likely to join the Dragons later in the season.

Let’s take a look at three players who could be options at the first base position for the Dragons on April 8.

Alex McGarry spent most of the 2021 season with the Dragons and made 53 starts at first base, by far the most of any player on the team. McGarry actually began the 2021 season at Low-A Daytona and got off to a blazing start, hitting home runs in his first two professional games, and blasting four homers in the seven games he played with the Tortugas to earn a promotion to Dayton. With the Dragons, McGarry added seven more home runs, tied for second on the Dayton club, in 78 games. He batted .230.

McGarry was signed by the Reds as a non-drafted free agent after the 2020 draft, which was shortened to just five rounds. McGarry had earned First Team All-PAC 12 honors at Oregon State University, where he batted .293 with eight homers in 49 games in 2019.

Garrett Wolforth is a versatile player who can play almost any position on the diamond including catcher. Wolforth was impressive in a brief stint with the Dragons in 2021 and could be a candidate to return, bringing added value because of his defensive utility.

Wolforth began the 2021 season at Daytona and had a quiet first month before getting red-hot around the first of June. Over a 22-game stretch from June 5 to July 4, he hit .329 with four home runs, 14 extra base hits, 17 RBI, and an OPS of .993. That surge earned Wolforth a promotion to the Dragons on July 24, where he paid immediate dividends upon his arrival. Wolforth had five hits including two triples over his first three games with the Dragons, and he seemed to bring added energy to the Dayton dugout. Dragons manager Jose Moreno put Wolforth in the #3 or #4 spot in the batting order in every game he played in during his time in Dayton, and Wolforth looked right at home. But on August 7, after the Daytona club suffered a series of injuries that left them shorthanded at the first base position, Wolforth headed back to Florida, and spent the remainder of the season with Daytona. In Wolforth’s nine games with the Dragons, he hit .257 with a home run, two doubles, two triples, and an .847 OPS. After returning to Daytona, Wolforth’s numbers tailed off. For the year, he played in 75 games with the Tortugas and batted .221 with seven home runs.

Wolforth was a 14th round draft pick by the Reds in 2019. He spent his final college season at NCAA Division II Nova Southeastern in 2019 after playing three seasons at Dallas Baptist University in the Missouri Valley Conference. He was a First team All-MVC as a sophomore in 2017 when he batted .289 with seven home runs. He was also named to MVC All-Defensive Team as a catcher. Wolforth played at Concordia Lutheran High School in Spring, Texas and earned Perfect Game 2nd Team All-America honors as a senior.

Wolforth played catcher, first base, and left field in 2021. In his first year of pro ball in 2019, he also saw time at third base, right field, and one game in center field. His ability to play so many positions is a quality that every manager would appreciate and value.

Leonardo Seminati could become the first product of Italy to play for the Dragons since relief pitcher Luca Panerati worked in 17 games with Dayton in 2011. Seminati would become the first Dragons position player from Western Europe since slugging star Donald Lutz of Germany enjoyed one of the biggest offensive seasons in Dragons history in 2011. Seminati was signed by the Reds as an international free agent in 2017.

Seminati spent the entire 2021 season at Low-A Daytona. He suffered a concussion in his first game of the season and missed the next 18 days, then struggled for a period before rebounding for a strong month of June. From June 4-27, Seminati hit .317 with four home runs and 14 RBI in 14 games, posting an OPS of 1.123. When he made contact during that stretch, he went 14 for 21, a .667 average, with seven extra base hits.

Seminati played in 69 games with Daytona, batting .211 with 10 home runs and 36 RBI. He started 30 games at first base, 11 at third, 17 in left field, and four more in right field.

Other possible options at first base include Victor Ruiz, who spent all of 2021 with the Dragons, primarily at third base (he will be previewed at third); Jack Rogers, who finished the 2021 season with the Dragons (he will be previewed in the outfield); Michel Triana, a native of Cuba who played in 49 games at Daytona in 2021 and batted .227 with two home runs; and Ibarra, (mentioned earlier), who had an enormous 2021 season at San Jose State and then played in 27 games at Daytona and hit .195 with one homer.

Next up: Second Basemen

Part 1: Catchers: https://www.milb.com/dayton/news/dragons-2022-preview-part-1-catchers

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