First, a highly rated prospect or three can be expected to open the season in Dayton. Second, a number of players from the previous year will return.
In 2022, Elly De La Cruz and Andrew Abbott began the season as Dragons. They were followed by Edwin Arroyo, Austin Hendrick and Chase Petty in 2023, Rhett Lowder, Sal Stewart and Cam Collier in 2024 and Chase Burns in 2025.
How long the stay depends on their performance.
This season the highly anticipated prospect expected to start the season in Dayton is 20-year-old catcher Alfredo Duno. If the Reds place Duno in Dayton, he would be the highest rated catcher prospect to play for the Dragons. He is ranked the Reds’ No. 2 prospect behind Stewart, according to MLB Pipeline.
As soon as Stewart gathers enough at-bats this season with the Reds and moves to rookie status, Duno will be rated the Reds’ top prospect. Duno is ranked No. 38 overall and will move up as well this spring because 10 players ahead of him are on MLB rosters.
If all goes as projected, Duno could be the next Reds player, not named Eugenio Suarez, to help Venezuela win a World Baseball Classic.
Duno is big — 6-foot-3, 248 pounds — and hits for power. Last summer for Daytona in the historically pitcher-dominated Low A Florida State League, Duno showed rare promise as the league MVP. He led the FSL with 18 home runs, 81 RBIs, 52 extra-base hits, 78 runs, 32 doubles, a .430 on-base percentage and a .948 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage). He was second in the league with a .287 batting average and 112 hits.
Baseball America’s scouting report on Duno: “Few young hitters come close to Duno’s advanced understanding of the strike zone. His career .425 OBP ranks fourth among active minor league hitters with at least 750 plate appearances. He will not swing at pitches out of the zone … his exceptional power could get him to 25 home runs regularly. Duno moves well for his size.”
The returning list of players could be long. Two that figure to be at the top of the list are shortstop Carlos Sanchez and first baseman-catcher-DH John Michael Faile.
Sanchez, ranked as the Reds’ No. 28 prospect, is from the Dominican Republic. After a midseason promotion, Sanchez, 21, played in 56 games for the Dragons at his natural position shortstop, third base and outfield. He batted .244 with four home runs. Like Duno, Sanchez is bigger than most at his position at 6-2, 205.
Faile, 25, led the Dragons with 13 homers and 56 RBIs last season and batted .233. He played Division II college baseball and was signed as a free agent to a minor-league contract in December of 2023.
Other Dragons from last season who might return are catcher Ryan McCrystal, infielders Jack Moss, Carter Graham, Peyton Stovall and Victor Acosta, outfielders Anthony Stephan and Yerlin Confidan and pitchers Cody Adcock, Luke Hayden and Nestor Lorant.
The returning players will be confident in their ability to perform and win in the Midwest League. After they spent almost every day in last place and suffered five losing streaks of six games or more, they became the hottest team in franchise history.
The Dragons won a record 15 straight. The day after the streak was broken, they won three straight to conclude their remarkable season-ending run of 18 wins in 19 games and moved out of last place.
Vince Harrison Jr. managed the Dragons the past two seasons. He will be a coach this year with the Reds AAA affiliate in Louisville.
The new manager is former Dragons catcher Julio Morillo, a 33-year-old from Venezuela. He managed Daytona in 2023 and 2024, so he will be familiar with many of the Dragons. He coached with the Reds AAA team in Louisville in 2025. This past fall he managed Peoria in the Arizona Fall League with players from Major League teams, including the Reds.
“Obviously the main priority is going to be our players’ development along with the coaching staff that we have and having good communication with them,” Morillo said after he was announced as manager in January. “The common goal is to develop the best players we can so they can go out and perform and eventually play in Cincinnati.”
The Dragons’ home opener is at 7:05 p.m. on April 7 against Lake County.
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