Dragons 2018 Team Preview: Part 8-Relief Pitchers

The Dayton Dragons play their final three spring training games in Arizona on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week before boarding a flight to Dayton early Sunday morning. Opening day rosters for each of the Reds four full-season affiliates will be announced late this week or early next week, pending last minute changes. 
In the Minor Leagues, a change on one roster can impact the other rosters within the same organization. In 2015, the group of 25 Dragons players arrived in Dayton on a Sunday evening and went through the first several days of activities including media interviews, photo sessions, and two practices at Fifth Third Field in anticipation of a Thursday night game at West Michigan to start the season. During the five-hour bus ride from Dayton to Grand Rapids, Michigan on Wednesday evening of that week, Dragons manager Jose Nieves was told that when the team arrived at the hotel, pitcher Nolan Becker was to be sent to the airport to catch a flight to Daytona Beach, where he would join the Tortugas. It seemed that a Double-A pitcher had come up with a minor ailment and a pitcher in Daytona would have to move up to take his place, creating the vacancy. Becker was part of the Dragons opening week of events, but he was moved on to a new team before the Dragons even played a game.
Relief Pitchers
This is the final installment of an eight-part series previewing the 2018 Dragons. Players listed here are candidates for positions on the 25-man Dragons season-opening roster.
This preview is an unofficial projection of possible roster candidates. Minor League rosters are not established until April 2. Spring training variables including performance, injuries, trades, and additional player acquisitions will impact the roster accordingly.
Click links on each name for career stats and player information.
Candidates: Dauri Moreta, Moises Nova, Tyler Buffett, Connor Ryan, Cory Thompson, Ryan Nutof, John Ghyzel, Luis Alecis.
All eight names on this list pitched at Billings last season, though the first two pitchers on the list of candidates, Moreta and Nova, finished the 2017 season with the Dragons. 
Dauri Moreta is not a well-known prospect within the Reds organization, but for those of us who saw the way he finished the 2017 season with the Dragons, he is certainly a player who generates a lot of excitement moving forward. Moreta is a 21-year-old native of the Dominican Republic who joined the Reds organization as a free agent prior to the 2015 season. Moreta has a big arm with a fastball that can get into the mid-90s with regularity, and the velocity can sometimes go higher. He enjoyed considerable success in the Reds system before joining the Dragons on July 8, 2017. Up to that point, he had pitched in 37 games in the Reds organization, all with Short-Season clubs, and had posted a career earned run average of 1.69 with an amazing 94 strikeouts in 57.2 innings. When he arrived in Dayton, Dragons pitching coach Derrin Ebert was openly thrilled to have him. Moreta joined the Dragons after just four appearances at Billings where he tossed four shutout innings and struck out eight.
Moreta's introduction to the Midwest League did not go well at first. In his first appearance, he worked one inning and allowed four runs. The next two outings were similar. After three appearances with the Dragons, Moreta had logged three innings and surrendered 10 earned runs. His earned run average stood at 30.00.
From that point forward, Moreta reeled off six straight scoreless relief appearances. He became more dominant with each outing. In his last three games of the regular season, he fired six scoreless innings, allowing just one hit with one walk and 11 strikeouts. As the Dragons entered the playoffs, Moreta had gained the confidence of manager Luis Bolivar. Moreta appeared in four of the Dragons six playoff games and earned the save in two of the Dragons three playoff wins. In the post-season, he allowed just one hit and no runs in four and one-third innings. Moreta closed out the season looking like a star.
Moreta has dealt with some injury issues this spring in Arizona, but the hope has been that he will be ready to answer the bell as the Dragons closer when the season begins April 5 in Bowling Green.

Moises Nova also spent part of the 2017 season with the Dragons, making eight relief appearances while posting a record of 0-1 with one save and a 4.86 ERA. Nova was a starter in the lowest levels of the Reds organization in 2015 and 2016 before making the move to the bullpen in 2017. He appeared in 12 games at Billings last summer before joining the Dragons, going 1-1 with a 3.13 ERA. He has averaged more than a strikeout per inning over the course of his career. Nova did not show the flashes of dominance of Moreta in 2017, but he did have some strong outings and has a good arm. Nova is a 22-year-old native of the Dominican Republic.
Tyler Buffett was drafted by the Reds in the sixth round in 2017 out of Oklahoma State University. Buffett, who is a distant relative of billionaire Warren Buffett, spent four seasons at Oklahoma State. His best year came as a junior in 2016 when he went 9-3 with a 2.81 ERA and earned First Team All-Big 12 Conference honors for a school that finished the year as the #3 team in the nation. He earned the biggest win of his college career in the College World Series in 2016 when he beat the University of Arizona with eight shutout innings. Buffett also enjoyed great success in the classroom at OSU and was a mainstay on the all-conference academic lists throughout his career.
After being drafted by the Reds, Buffett made 22 relief appearances at Billings and posted a record of 4-2 with a 3.86 ERA and three saves. He walked only 11 hitters in 44 innings while striking out 34. His overall numbers were certainly not indicative of how well he pitched over the last month of the season. Over his last 10 outings of the 22 he made at Billings, Buffett posted an ERA of 0.78, allowing just two earned runs in 23 innings. 
Connor Ryan is a pitcher known to the good folks with the Wright State University baseball program. Ryan pitched for three seasons in the Horizon League at the University of Illinois at Chicago, mostly as a reliever. Over his sophomore and junior seasons combined in 2016-17, he appeared in 31 games while posting a record of 4-1 with a 2.50 ERA. He had some key outings late in the 2017 season as UIC defeated Wright State in the conference tournament and went on to the NCAA Regionals. 
Ryan was drafted in the eighth round by the Reds joining former Dragon Kevin Coddington as the only players ever drafted out of UIC by Cincinnati. He was the highest-drafted player from UIC to be drafted by any team since Curtis Granderson was taken in the third round in 2002. Ryan was assigned to Billings and appeared in 18 games out of the bullpen, notching eight saves with a 4.71 ERA. Almost all of the damage against Ryan came within a very short window in mid-season when he allowed seven runs in three and one-third innings. Outside of that blip on the radar, Ryan's ERA for the remainder of the year was 2.04.
Cory Thompson , now a relief pitcher, was actually the Dragons opening day starting shortstop in 2016 after also playing in Dayton as a shortstop for part of 2015. Thompson was a great two-way prospect in high school in Mauldin, Virginia, and some teams liked him better as a future pitcher than as a shortstop. The Reds drafted Thompson as a shortstop in the fifth round in 2013 and he played shortstop for four seasons in the Reds organization. Over 181 career games as a position player, he batted .237 with 12 home runs.
Prior to the 2017 season, the Reds converted Thompson to pitcher. He has a good fastball and outstanding breaking ball, but he could have been reasonably expected to show some rust in 2017 after not pitching for three full seasons. Thompson spent the 2017 season at Billings and appeared in 21 games, going 3-1 with a 3.62 ERA. He allowed fewer than a hit per inning and struck out 32 while walking 18 in 32.1 innings. As Thompson gains experience, he should become more consistent and has the arm to progress as a prospect. He is still only 23 years old.
Ryan Nutof played college baseball at the University of Michigan before being drafted by the Reds in the 16th round in 2017. His career record in three seasons at Michigan was 17-8 to go along with a 3.98 ERA. He was used extensively as a starter with the Wolverines but he worked out of the bullpen as well. Nutof was sent to Billings after signing with the Reds and appeared in 21 games, posting a 4.08 ERA. Nutof is a native of the western Chicago suburb of South Elgin, Illinois, a village located only about 10 miles from the home of the Kane County Cougars of the Midwest League. He features a fastball in the mid 90's.
John Ghyzel could be the hardest thrower among all the pitchers in this preview with a fastball at 94-97 according to Baseball America. He played college baseball at the University of Rochester, an NCAA Division III program. He was just the second player ever drafted out of the school and the first since 1981. Ghyzel posted a career record of 11-5 with a 3.97 ERA in three seasons at Rochester, where he was used mostly as a starter. The Reds drafted Ghyzel in the 18th round of the 2017 draft and initially assigned him to the AZL Reds. He pitched well there in just nine games, going 1-0 with a 1.74 ERA and notching 15 strikeouts in 10.1 innings. He was promoted to Billings and struggled with the Mustangs in just 11.2 innings, allowing 12 earned runs. Ghyzel's excellent fastball provides optimism that he can continue to improve.
Luis Alecis is a native of the Dominican Republic who has spent three years in the Reds organization. In 2017, he pitched at Billings and made 11 starts along with five relief appearances, but he is expected to pitch out of the Dayton bullpen in 2018. At Billings, Alecis went 6-6 with a 5.11 ERA, striking out 61 batters in 61.2 innings. He is another prospect with a power arm who could show improvement as he gains experience.
That concludes our 2018 Dragons position-by-position preview. The Dragons roster will be announced on Twitter and Facebook when it is established by the Reds and will also be featured at daytondragons.com. 
The Dragons will open the Midwest League season on Thursday, April 5th in Bowling Green, Kentucky against the Bowling Green Hot Rods. The Dragons home opener is Saturday, April 7 when they host Bowling Green at Fifth Third Field at 7:00 p.m. 
Single-game ticket sales for 2018 Dragons games are underway. Go to daytondragons.com for details. For Dragons 2018 season ticket information, call (937) 228-2287. 
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