DAYTON — The Dayton Dragons are prepared to open the 2022 season, the franchise’s 22nd season.
The Dragons won thier first game of the season Friday 6-5 against the Fort Wayne TinCaps.
“Honestly I’m just happy to be here,” Mat Nelson, a Dragons catcher, said. “Can’t wait to get out with the guys and have some fun and show the town of Dayton what we can do.”
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“We heard stories about Dayton and the sellouts and how great the fans are, so I got to see that last year obviously but full force this year is going to be fun,” Quin Cotton, a Dragons outfielder, said.
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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 No. 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 No. 1 minor league prospect on April 8. The last player ranked as the Reds No. 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.
Connor Phillips is going to start the opener for the Dragons. He said the energy of the crowd could add a couple miles per hour to his fastball. The largest crowd Phillips said he ever played in front of is maybe 1,000 people.
“It’s going to be a blast,” Phillips said. “I haven’t done it before. Playing in front of 6,000 fans something like that is going to be really fun, something different.”
The Midwest League has adopted a Pitch Clock to encourage a quicker pace of play. Pitchers are required to deliver each pitch within an established time limit. Defensive positioning rules now require at least two infielders on each side of second base, with at least four infielders positioned on the infield dirt. Additionally, the size of each base has been increased from 15″ to 18″. Major League Baseball rule makers have also adopted a limit on the number of unsuccessful pick-off throws by a pitcher.
“Last year I was in the Cal League, Cal League had both of those things implemented,” Phillips said. “First few games it was a little bit different, it was a little bit tough to use the pitch clock. Teams got very good at being able to time you up with the pitch clock and steal and stuff like that. But I’ve got a little bit of experience with it so we’re going to take that.”
The Dragons have the longest sell-out streak in sports history at 1,385 consecutive regular season games at Day Air Ballpark.
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There are some other things that will be new at Dragons games this year:
Sunday Games at 1:05 p.m.
New in 2022, all Dragons Sunday games will start at 1:05 p.m., one hour earlier than they have started in recent years. All other games will start at 7:05 except for two Saturdays (April 9 and April 23), which will start at 1:05 p.m.
Noah Tune
The Dragons will be introducing Noah Tune on Sunday, April 10. Noah Tune will be the Dragons’ new ballpark organist and will play at every Sunday home game this season.
Coney Corner
A new food cart on the concourse level will include footlong and regular hot dogs with Cincinnati-style homemade chili made in-house by the chef at Day Air Ballpark. Fans can also enjoy a different type of sausage featured for each homestand (such as maple brown sugar sausage and pizza supreme brats) with a breakfast sausage available for the Sunday afternoon games.
Pepsi Grab & Go with self-serve; Cutwater Cocktails Grab & Go
Pro Sports Catering is introducing a self-service area where fans can select, scan, and pay for their concessions items. The Pepsi kiosk includes several brands of soda, energy drinks, Dippin’ Dots, Starbucks products, and more. The Cutwater kiosk has several brands of Anheuser-Busch beers as well as cocktails.
Pitch Clock, New League Rules in 2022
The Midwest League has adopted a Pitch Clock to encourage a quicker pace of play. Pitchers are required to deliver each pitch within an established time limit. Defensive positioning rules now require at least two infielders on each side of second base, with at least four infielders positioned on the infield dirt. Additionally, the size of each base has been increased from 15″ to 18″. Major League Baseball rule makers have also adopted a limit on the number of unsuccessful pick-off throws by a pitcher.
Culture Works Spotlight Weekend
The event is scheduled for Thursday, May 19 through Sunday, May 22. Heater and Gem are the honorary chairs of the fundraising campaign that recently kicked off for the year. Learn more about them and what they do for Dayton community and how you can support them. They will have a lot of different performers on the plaza and during the game.
Theme jerseys on Marvel’s Defenders of the Diamond Night
The Dragons have teamed up with Marvel to debut an all-new action-packed event at Day Air Ballpark. Get to the ballpark on Saturday, July 9 as the Dragons host West Michigan for the first ever Marvel’s Defenders of the Diamond Night. Come dressed in your favorite superhero gear. The team will wear specially designed Marvel “Captain America” jerseys during the game that will be autographed and auctioned off after the game to benefit the Dayton Dragons Foundation. The night will also include an appearance by Captain America, who will be available for photos before and during the game.
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Some of the Dragons roster highlights include:
- Outfielder Rece Hinds joins De La Cruz as a Reds top-10 prospect, listed at No.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 No.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 No.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 No.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 No.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 No.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 No.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).