Dodgers Name Loons Roster for 2023

MIDLAND, Mich. – In conjunction with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Great Lakes Loons are pleased to announce the team’s preliminary roster for the 2023 season. The Opening Day roster will be finalized prior to Friday’s home opener, when the Loons host the Lansing Lugnuts (High-A Affiliate Oakland Athletics) at Dow Diamond.

PITCHERS (18): Aldry Acosta, Ben Casparius, Yon Castro, Reinaldo De Paula, Jack Dreyer, Braydon Fisher, Michael Hobbs, Antonio Knowles, Ronan Kopp, Orlando Ortiz, Robbie Peto, Jake Pilarski, Adolfo Ramirez, Benony Robles, Julian Smith, Christian Suarez, Mitchell Tyranski, Justin Wrobleski

CATCHERS (2): Yeiner Fernandez, Dalton Rushing

INFIELDERS (5): Luis Diaz, Alex Freeland, Austin Gauthier, Griffin Lockwood-Powell, Taylor Young

OUTFIELDERS (5): Ismael Alcantara, Chris Alleyne, Yunior Garcia, Damon Keith, Jake Vogel

Notes regarding the 2023 roster:

• 16 players (of 30) spent at least a portion of the 2022 season with Great Lakes
• Three players were selected by the Dodgers in the 2022 MLB First-Year Player Draft
• Six players were drafted by the Dodgers in the 2021 MLB First-Year Player Draft
• 11 players originate from outside the United States (6 Dominican Republic, 3 Venezuela, 1 Mexico, 1 Puerto Rico)
• One player born in Michigan – Mitchell Tyranski – Birmingham, Mich.
• Five Loons appear on MLB.com’s list of top 30 Dodgers prospects (Dalton Rushing – 8, Yeiner Fernandez – 16, Ronan Kopp – 21, Damon Keith – 27, Alex Freeland – 28)
• Five Loons appear on Baseball America’s list of top 30 Dodgers prospects (Dalton Rushing – 8, Ronan Kopp – 16, Yeiner Fernandez - 25, Damon Keith – 27, Justin Wrobleski– 30)
• Yunior Garcia (13), Damon Keith (12), Luis Diaz (11) were the top three home run hitters at Low-A Rancho Cucamonga in 2022
• Rushing the Loons highest ranked prospect, appeared in 30 games last season with Rancho Cucamonga and the ACL Dodgers and slashed .404/.522/.740 with eight home runs and 30 RBI.

Ronan Kopp will be the opening day starter. The left-hander struck out 108 batters over 62.1 innings pitched in 2022, making three appearances with the Loons last season. The six-foot-seven 20-year-old is expected to be the focal point of the Great Lakes rotation. Damon Keith will be a mainstay in the Great Lakes lineup. The 22-year-old combined for 17 home runs in his 2022 campaign in both Low-A and High-A, including homering in his first game as a Loon on August 4th, 2022.

Two players return to the state of Michigan to continue their baseball career. Mitchell Tyranski, a Birmingham native who pitched at Michigan State and Brothers Rice and Griffin-Lockwood Powell a Central Michigan slugger from 2018 to 2021. Tyranski returns to minor league baseball after being sidelined with injuries the past two seasons. Lockwood-Powell, a non-drafted free agent in 2021, will make his High-A debut in 2023.

Daniel Nava, will serve as the Loons manager, the tenth in the franchise’s 16-year history. Nava, 40, enters his third season coaching in the Dodgers' organization, this his first managerial role. In 2022, Nava was the bench coach for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, Low-A and the year prior was an assistant hitting coach for the ACL Dodgers. The former outfielder and first baseman played in the big leagues for seven years with five teams and won a World Series with the Boston Red Sox in 2013.

David Anderson for the second consecutive year will serve as the Loons’ pitching coach. 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.

Richard De Los Santos is back in the fold for a second season as pitching coach for the Loons. The 38-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.

O’Koyea Dickson, a 2012 Loon as a player will be the hitting coach for 2023. Dickson, like Nava, comes from Single-A Rancho Cucamonga. Dickson was the Quakes hitting coach. A 2011 12th Round pick of the Dodgers, Dickson appeared in seven games in LA in 2017.

Former Loons and Dodgers infielder Elian Herrera returns to Midland as the Loons’ bench coach for a third 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 John Vicari in the broadcast 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 High-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.