Dragons 2019 Team Preview, Part 8: Bullpen
Today we conclude our eight-part series on the candidates for roster positions with the 2019 Dayton Dragons by looking at the bullpen. This preview is an unofficial projection of possible roster candidates. Minor League rosters are not established until April 3. Spring training variables including performance, injuries, trades, and additional
Today we conclude our eight-part series on the candidates for roster positions with the 2019 Dayton Dragons by looking at the bullpen. This preview is an unofficial projection of possible roster candidates. Minor League rosters are not established until April 3. Spring training variables including performance, injuries, trades, and additional player acquisitions will impact the roster accordingly.
The first appearance in Dayton for the new 2019 Dragons team will come on Saturday, March 30 with the Dragons 20th Season Celebration Game (see more below). The Dragons will open the Midwest League season on Thursday, April 4th against the Bowling Green Hot Rods at 7:00 p.m.
Click on these links to view previews of Dragons catchers, first basemen, second basemen, shortstops, third basemen, outfielders, and starting pitchers.
The Relief Pitchers
Click links on each name for career stats and player information.
Candidates:
There is a lot more competition for the 13 spots on the Dayton pitching staff in 2019 than in past years, primarily because the Reds added an affiliate in 2018 in Greeneville, Tennessee. With Greeneville and Billings at the "Advanced-Rookie" level of professional baseball, it gave the Reds twice as many players to select from for 2019. Some of the candidates in this bullpen preview have been starting pitchers in the past and could be candidates for the Dayton starting rotation in 2019. Conversely, some of the seven pitchers listed in our starting rotation preview could wind up in the Dayton bullpen.
Connor Bennett pitched briefly for the Dragons in 2018, working in eight games out of the bullpen. He went 1-1 with a 5.27 ERA. Bennett spent most of the year as the closer at Greeneville and was outstanding, going 3-0 with a 0.86 ERA and six saves. Bennett was a 34th round draft pick by the Reds in 2015 out of high school in the Atlanta area.
Eddy Demurias was the Reds 27th round pick in 2018 out of the University of South Carolina. Demurias had started his college career at the University of Florida in 2016 before spending the 2017 season in junior college. With the Gamecocks in 2018, Demurias was the top relief pitcher for a team that finished the year ranked #16 in the nation. He went 7-1 with a 4.87 ERA in 31 games. After being drafted by the Reds, he was assigned to Billings and pitched in 20 games out of the bullpen, going 1-5 with a 4.97 ERA and three saves. He might have worn down a bit towards the end of what is always a very long year for players who begin the spring with a college team in February and finish the year in September with a minor league team. He did not give up a run in his first seven appearances with Billings and was picked to play in the all-star game. His ERA in the first half with Billings was 1.64 compared to 7.00 in the second half.
Adrian Rodriguez made 15 starts for the Dragons in 2018, going 4-5 with a 7.19 ERA. He was sent to Billings for his last six starts and went 1-2 with a 3.66 ERA. Rodriguez is a native of Mexico and has been mostly a starter in three seasons in the Reds system, but he might work out of the Dayton bullpen in 2019.
Matt Pidich was the Reds eighth round draft pick in 2018 as a redshirt senior at the University of Pittsburgh. Pidich was Pitt's top starting pitcher in 2018 in a strong baseball conference. He went 6-2 with a 3.05 ERA in 15 starts. Pidich was assigned to Billings after the draft and pitched in 19 games out of the Mustangs bullpen, going 1-2 with a 5.28 ERA.
Connor Curlis is a native of Findlay, Ohio, about 100 miles north of Dayton, straight up Interstate 75. Curlis played at Ohio State for head coach Greg Beals. He spent three years with the Buckeyes and enjoyed his best season in 2018 when he made 16 starts and went 7-4 with a 3.55 ERA as his team's best pitcher. Curlis was drafted in the 24th round by the Reds after being scouted at OSU by Ben Jones, the Reds 2019 Scout of the Year. Jones covers Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. Curlis went to Billings and appeared in 16 games with one start, going 3-0 with a 4.56 ERA.
Justin McGregor was the Reds 31st round draft pick in 2018 out of Oral Roberts after a tremendous college career. McGregor's four-year college record was 29-4 including two years at Oral Roberts after two years of junior college baseball. As a junior at Oral Roberts in 2017, he went 9-0 with a 2.99 ERA. He followed that in 2018 by leading the conference in ERA at 2.80 with a record of 6-2. He was First Team All-Conference (Summit League) both years as he led his team to the NCAA Regionals and started for Oral Roberts against fifth-ranked Arkansas in the national tournament. After signing with the Reds, McGregor's numbers offer an indication that he might have been another victim of the long season that totaled 116 innings between his college season and pro season. In 13 games split between Billings and Greeneville, McGregor's ERA was 7.23.
Jerry D'Andrea was signed by the Reds in 2018 as an undrafted free agent after completing his college career at Ramapo College in New Jersey, an NCAA Division III program. In that regard, D'Andrea would like to follow in the footsteps of 2018 Dragons all-star
Ian Koch was also signed as an undrafted free agent by the Reds in 2018 after playing at Western Illinois University in the Summit League, the same conference as potential Dragon Justin McGregor. Koch was 4-6 with a 4.38 ERA at Western Illinois in the spring of 2018. After signing with the Reds, he went to Greeneville and pitched well in a small sample size. He allowed just one earned run in seven and two-thirds innings.
Ryan Dunne was Koch's college teammate at Western Illinois and also signed with the Reds as a non-drafted free agent last summer. Dunne's father, Mike, was the runner-up for the 1987 National League Rookie of the Year Award with the Pirates. Ryan Dunne went 4-7 with a 4.68 ERA at Western Illinois in 2018 and was assigned to Billings after signing with the Reds. He made 16 relief appearances at Billings and was outstanding, going 2-0 with a 2.66 ERA. He has battled some elbow issues.
Jhon De Jesus was a pitcher at Billings in 2017 who received a fair amount of attention for his powerful arm and potential. He likely would have been with the Dragons in 2018 if not for the fact that he suffered an injury in the spring and missed the entire season. De Jesus is a 22-year-old native of the Dominican Republic. He is a candidate to pitch for the Dragons in 2019 and has been almost exclusively a starter in his three years in the Reds organization (10-13, 3.95 ERA) but as a pitcher coming off an injury, he might work out of the bullpen.
Other names could also be on the radar for possible spots on the Dragons pitching staff. Others with college experience who were drafted in 2018 and pitched at Billings or Greeneville include Cory Heitler (Ramapo College),
Editor's note: As I close out this final installment of our preview, I would like to wish the best of luck not only to those players who are coming to Dayton this season, but also to the many players who were in camp with the Reds in Arizona and got the unfortunate news that there was no spot for them in the system in 2019. So far, former Dragons
The Dragons will host their "20th Season Celebration Game" on March 30 at 2:00 p.m. at Fifth Third Field. The game will match the 2019 Dragons ("Team 20") against a team of Dragons alumni who are still playing in the Cincinnati Reds minor league system. Individual game tickets for the Dragons 20th Season Celebration Game, and all Dragons 2019 home games, are available now. Go to daytondragons.com/celebrationgame for tickets to the Celebration Game. For tickets to the Dragons regular season games, you can go to the Ticketing Tab at www.daytondragons.com, or Ticketmaster.com. You can also order by phone at (937) 228-2287. Additional information on the Dragons 20th Season celebration including videos on the 20 Greatest Dragons, special 20th Season merchandise, and Dragons alumni listings is available here: https://www.milb.com/dayton/team/20.
Again this season, all 140 home and road games can be heard on radio on WONE 980 AM and on the internet at wone.com and the Dragons Mobile App. Games can also be heard on HD Radio on 104.7 WTUI HD 2. The Dragons will again televise all Saturday and Sunday home games, plus a few Friday night games, on the Dayton CW.
There is a complete listing of all Minor League players in camp with the Reds here at RedsMinorLeagues.com: https://redsminorleagues.com/2019/02/14/cincinnati-reds-minor-league-spring-training-roster-for-2019/
The complete Minor League game schedule in Arizona is here: https://redsminorleagues.com/2019/02/15/cincinnati-reds-minor-league-spring-training-schedule-2/
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