Reds #1 Prospect Chase Burns Headlines Dragons 2025 Initial Roster

Dayton, Ohio—The Dayton Dragons, in conjunction with the Cincinnati Reds, announced their initial opening night roster today. The list of 30 players is headlined by starting pitcher Chase Burns, the second overall selection in the 2024 draft (and the Reds first pick) who is currently ranked as the Reds #1 prospect by MLB Pipeline. The Dragons roster includes seven players who are currently ranked among the Reds top-30 prospects by MLB Pipeline or Baseball America.

The complete roster can be viewed here

Bios for all 30 players can be viewed here

The Dragons will open their 25th season in the Midwest League in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Friday night, the start of a three-game series against the West Michigan Whitecaps. The Dragons annual home “Opening Night” game at Day Air Ballpark is Tuesday, April 8th against the Fort Wayne TinCaps at 7:05 p.m.

For information on Dragons season tickets, group tickets, or single-game tickets, go to daytondragons.com/tickets or call (937) 228-2287.

Dragons opening night roster:

Pitchers: Cody Adcock, Gabriel Aguilera, Chase Burns, Luke Hayden, Brian Edgington, Jonah Hurney, Brody Jessee, Nestor Lorant, Juan Martinez, Joseph Menefee, Jose Montero, Graham Osman, Jimmy Romano, Nick Sando, Adam Serwinowski, Easton Sikorski, Dylan Simmons.

Catchers: Connor Burns, John Michael Faile, Logan Tanner.

Infielders: Victor Acosta, Johnny Ascanio, Leo Balcazar, Ricardo Cabrera, Trey Faltine.

Outfielders: Ariel Almonte, Yerlin Confidan, Carlos Jorge, Myles Smith, Anthony Stephan.

The Dayton roster includes 17 players who spent all or part of the 2024 season with the Dragons, including several key members of last season’s playoff team. Last year’s Dragons starting shortstop, Leo Balcazar, along with starting center fielder Carlos Jorge, starting second baseman Victor Acosta, co-starting catchers Connor Burns and Logan Tanner, and late-season star John Michael Faile, a catcher/first baseman, are all among the position players on the Dragons 2025 opening night roster. Utilitymen Trey Faltine and Johnny Ascanio also return from 2024.

Returning pitchers from the 2024 Dragons include Cody Adcock, Gabriel Aguilera, Brian Edgington, Brody Jessee, Nestor Lorant, Joseph Menefee, Graham Osman, Easton Sikorski, and Dylan Simmons.

The list of top prospects on the roster is headed by Chase Burns, ranked as the Reds #1 prospect by MLB Pipeline and #2 by Baseball America (behind Rhett Lowder). The roster also includes third baseman Ricardo Cabrera, ranked as the Reds #10 prospect by both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America. Starting pitcher Adam Serwinowski is ranked as the Reds #12 prospect by MLB Pipeline. Carlos Jorge is ranked by MLB Pipeline as the Reds #21 prospect. Leo Balcazar is listed at #23 by Baseball America and #25 by MLB Pipeline. Connor Burns is ranked by Baseball America as the Reds #25 prospect. Starting pitcher Luke Hayden is the Reds #30 prospect on the MLB Pipeline list.

Chase Burns is a hard-throwing starting pitcher who has reached 102 mph with his fastball and also possesses a slider that is graded higher by some scouts than the fastball. Baseball America says “Burns’ stuff is good enough to simply blow away many hitters.” Burns matches Hunter Greene and Nick Senzel as highest-drafted players to play for Dragons (all were second overall picks). He spent the final season of his college career at Wake Forest in 2024 after two seasons at the University of Tennessee. Burns was named Atlantic Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year in 2024, going 10-1 with a 2.70 ERA and breaking the school record for strikeouts while leading the nation with 191 in 100 innings. He was selected First Team All-American by Baseball America. In six of Burns’ 16 starts in 2024, he struck out at least 14 batters including a career-high 16 against Clemson.

The Dragons roster also includes Nestor Lorant, the Reds 2024 Minor League Pitcher of the Year and Florida State League Pitcher of the Year. Lorant spent most of the 2024 season at Single-A Daytona, where he posted a 1.44 ERA that ranked first in all Minor League Baseball (120 teams) among pitchers with minimum 80 innings at time of his promotion to Dayton late in the season. Lorant also led the Florida State League in opponent’s batting average (.179), WHIP (0.87), and swinging strike percentage (17.8).

Notable new additions to the Dragons include outfielder Ariel Almonte, who hit 20 home runs in 2024 with Daytona to rank second in the Florida State League. Almonte led the league in extra base hits. Outfielder Myles Smith was a Reds 2024 draft choice after earning Big West Conference Player of the Year honors with UC-Irvine, when he batted .401 with 10 home runs.