2009 Dayton Dragons roster

[OnBaseMachine]

Dragons have sent 31 players to big leagues

By Marc Katz

Staff Writer

Sunday, April 05, 2009

DAYTON — When the Dayton Dragons were born as a Class A member of the Cincinnati Reds in 2000, the Reds made sure to stock the team with some of their best prospects, including outfielders Austin Kearns and Adam Dunn.

That's not the case entering year 10. For the first time, not one of Baseball America's Top 30 prospects has been assigned to the Dragons.

"The club is what it is," said Reds farm director Terry Reynolds, attending the Reds vs. Futures game at Fifth Third Field Saturday, April 4. "We'll see how this team does."

Earlier, Reds General Manager Walt Jocketty said, "Developing players is our primary goal, but winning is part of the process. It's important to teach these players how to win."

While the Dragons have sent 31 players to the major leagues (26 to the Reds), their overall record in the Midwest League ranks 11th out of 14 franchises. At the same time, the Reds have produced eight losing seasons.

This year's Dragons include pitchers Leonardo Astorga, Mike Bohana, Drew Bowman, Oscar Castro, Matt Fairel, Scott Gaffney, Aguido Gonzalez, Jordan Hotchkiss, Lance Janke, Curtis Partch, Josh Ravin and Mace Thurman. The catchers are Kevin Coddington and Jordan Wideman; infielders Humberto Sosa, Kyle Day, Miguel Rojas, Frank Pfister, Jose Gualdron and Cody Puckett and outfielders David Sappelt, Tony Brown, Byron Wiley, Brandon Menchaca and Tyler Stovall.

Only three of those players were chosen in the first 10 rounds of their draft, including Ravin (No. 5 in 2006), Puckett (No. 8 last year) and Sappelt (No. 9 last year).

Looking Red

Former Reds were all over the place, including outfielder Eric Davis, an instructor in spring training who also threw out the first pitch, infielder and manager Tommy Helms, pitcher Jim O'Toole and outfielder Ken Griffey Sr., who also works with the organization as a roving instructor.

Coaches begin duties

New Dragons manager Todd Benzinger managed the Futures team along with pitching coach Tony Fossas and hitting coach Tony Jaramillo. Originally, Rigo Beltran was to be the Dragons pitching coach, but he was moved to the Carolina team when Tom Browning was arrested for nonpayment of child support. The Reds have not decided what to do with Browning, but Fossas, originally scheduled to be with the rookie Gulf Coast League team, will stay with the Dragons.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/s/con...uresnotes.html

[OnBaseMachine]

Of the Reds four full season teams, Dayton looks to clearly be the weakest. This confirms that Neftali Soto and Devin Mesoraco will begin the season in High-A Sarasota. I was kind of hoping they would send Mesoraco back to Dayton for a month or so, but he's had a good spring which probably led to their decision to start him in Sarasota. Kyle Lotzkar and Juan Carlos Sulbaran should join Dayton sometime in mid-April or so. A rotation of Lotzkar, Sulbaran, Fairel, Castro, and Ravin should be interesting.

Kyle Day and Cody Puckett headline the infielders. The outfield looks to be pretty good with David Sappelt and Byron Wiley. I like Wiley a lot, he could turn out to be a major steal. He's a 5-tool talent. Tony Brown has some intriguing power but he needs to improve his plate discipline.

Again, I think Dayton is probably the weakest of the Reds four full season teams, but Lotzkar and Sulbaran will make them a lot more interesting. Both are expected to stay back in extended spring training for a week or so and then they'll be assigned to Dayton.

[RED VAN HOT]

Does this mean that Alex Buchholz will skip low A and go straight to Sarasota?

[OnBaseMachine]

Does this mean that Alex Buchholz will skip low A and go straight to Sarasota?

That's a good question. I completely forgot about him. It looks like the Reds may put him on the Danny Dorn path, i.e. skip Dayton and go straight from Billings to Sarasota. IMO his bat is good enough to make the jump. The Sarasota infield should be very good with Neftali Soto at third, Alex Buchholz at second, Yonder Alonso at first base, and Devin Mesoraco behind the plate. Zach Cozart is starting in Double-A, so I'm not sure who will play shortstop.

[dougdirt]

Does this mean that Alex Buchholz will skip low A and go straight to Sarasota?

Buchholz will indeed be in Sarasota.

[JaxRed]

I wonder if Michael Konstanty (10 HR at Billings) is jumping to Sarasota also or is staying at Billings (or is hurt)?

[Scrap Irony]

Konstanty is likey making the jump, too. Sarasota looks to be interesting this season.

The batting order:

Kel Jones/ Phipps CF
Bucholz 2b
Neftali Soto 3b
Alonso 1b
Konstanty RF
Mesoraco C
Kainer LF
Tordi/ Castro SS

Kind of loses steam after Mesoraco. All four OFs have tools. Unfortunately, they all possess one or two, but not much more than that. Konstanty and Kainer are darkhorses for decent production. There isn't a SS that makes sense. At all. Perhaps Cincinnati is receiving an Astro SS for A+, as the PTBNL in the Keppinger deal? Maybe this is where the Rule V guy loaned to Mexico is going to go, assuming his parent team doesn't want him back.

Bucholz did play SS in college. Maybe he goes back to that position? According the the paper, both he and the Billings SS last season--Miguel Rojas-- could play the position, but the Billings manager thought Rojas' glove better. Too, Bucholz would be better served as he moved up the ladder as a 2b. Maybe he plays SS in Sarasota?

Either way, it's disturbing to see how few prospects are SSs in the Cincinnati system. If Cozart doesn't pan out-- and it's certainly questionable to think he may-- there's nothing there, there.

[JaxRed]

I would think Reed is more likely the 3rd Outfielder. I would guess Konstanty to be backup till Alonso moves up.

[redsof72]

Konstanty is staying in extended. He lost a battle with Humberto Sosa for the first base job in Dayton. Word was that Sosa hit the ball better than anyone on the club in spring training.

Interesting that Cozart starts in Carolina. Good for Zack.

[camisadelgolf]

Does Humberto Sosa remind you of Javy Valentin at all? Sure, they've both spent some time at catcher, but Sosa seems like another one of those pudgy guys with an uppercut swing.

[redsof72]

Physically, yes. I actually saw Valentin in the Midwest League in '95 and he was a blue chip prospect at that time. I saw him hit home runs from both sides of the plate in the same game. I think he was 19 or 20 years old. Off memory, wasn't he a second round pick? Sosa was in Dayton briefly in 2008 and never really got a chance. He hit .304 in the GCL, which translates to about a buck sixty in the MWL, but folks are saying he knocked the cover off the ball in spring training. Talk about a dark horse. If you had told me that the Dayton team would not have Soto or Buchholz and that Sosa would be the guy they were looking at as a big hitter, I would have said that Benzinger will have his hands full. We will see.

[camisadelgolf]

Oh, I wouldn't say he's the next Valentin--I just see some similarities. And yeah, Valentin was an early-round draft pick (2nd or 3rd round pick of the Twins iIrc). It doesn't surprise me at all that the Reds like Sosa, though, because he has been given more chances than a lot of guys with similar production.

[redsof72]

Interesting note: Ben Davis will be the closer at Sarasota.

[camisadelgolf]

That's very interesting. Do you have any idea where he's at on the radar gun?

[JayBruceFan]

Josh Ravin?

Seriously?