Dragons Announce 2022 Roster

DAYTON, OHIO—The Dayton Dragons, in partnership with the Cincinnati Reds, today announced the team’s provisional opening night roster. The Dragons open their 22nd season on Friday, April 8 at 7:05 p.m. against the Fort Wayne TinCaps at beautiful Day Air Ballpark in the heart of the Water Street District.

2022 Roster here: https://img.mlbstatic.com/milb-images/image/upload/milb/ubqzw5cqqa804s4yzxyr.pdf

The Dragons roster is loaded with talent and headlined by star prospect Elly De La Cruz, an infielder, who entered spring training as the Reds #3 prospect (based on MLB.com). With the top prospect on the list, Hunter Greene, set to begin the season with the Reds, and the number two player on the list, Nick Lodolo, in contention to also start with Cincinnati, De La Cruz could be the Reds #1 minor league prospect on April 8. The last player ranked as the Reds #1 prospect while he was playing for the Dragons was Homer Bailey in 2005.

The Dragons roster includes six of the top 17 players in MLB.com’s ranking of top Reds prospects, and eight of the top 30.

The roster includes 14 players who spent all or part of the 2021 season with the Dragons, led by outfielder Quin Cotton, the Dayton leader in home runs last season.

--Outfielder Rece Hinds joins De La Cruz as a Reds top-10 prospect, listed at #9. Hinds was named by Baseball America as the “Best Power Hitter” in the Reds organization entering 2022.

--Catcher Mat Nelson, ranked as the Reds #12 prospect, led the entire nation in home runs at the college level in 2021 at Florida State University.

--Starting pitcher Andrew Abbott, ranked as the Reds #13 prospect, was a 2nd Team All-American in 2021 at the University of Virginia and led the Atlantic Coast Conference in strikeouts.

--Starting pitcher Connor Phillips, ranked as the Reds #14 prospect, was acquired by the Reds earlier this week as the player to be named later in the trade that sent former Dragon Jesse Winker to Seattle.

--Shortstop Jose Torres, ranked as the Reds #17 prospect, was considered to be the best defensive shortstop in the 2021 draft after leading North Carolina State University to the College World Series.

--Power-hitting outfielder Allan Cerda, ranked as the Reds #22 prospect, was promoted to Cincinnati’s 40-man roster over the winter and participated in big league spring training.

--Pitcher Joe Boyle, a product of Notre Dame, has regularly reached 100 mph with his fastball. He is ranked as the Reds #29 prospect.

The Dragons roster includes a whopping 11 players selected in the first five rounds of the draft. Along with Hinds (2nd round), Nelson (supplemental 1st round), Abbott (2nd round), Phillips (supplemental 2nd round), Torres (3rd round), and Boyle (5th round), the others are pitchers Thomas Farr (5th round), Nick Hanson (3rd round), Evan Kravetz (5th round), and James Marinan (4th round), and infielder Nick Quintana (2nd round).

Dragons 2022 Season-Opening Roster

Pitchers: Andrew Abbott, Frainger Aranguren, Donovan Benoit, Joe Boyle, Manuel Cachutt, *Thomas Farr, Myles Gayman, Jake Gozzo, *Jake Gilbert, Nick Hanson, *Evan Kravetz, *James Marinan, Connor Phillips, *James Proctor, Carson Rudd, Jake Stevenson, *Spencer Stockton.

Catchers: *Mat Nelson, *Garrett Wolforth.

Infielders: Elly De La Cruz, *Juan Martinez, *Alex McGarry, Nick Quintana, Jose Torres, *Jonathan Willems.

Outfielders: *Allan Cerda, *Quin Cotton, Ashton Creal, Rece Hinds, *Jack Rogers.

*Player has previously played for the Dragons

All Dragons games can be heard on WONE 980 AM and are streamed via daytondragons.com and wone.com. The Dragons will televise 25 games on Dayton’s CW (Channel 26) including all Saturday and Sunday home games.

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