MWL1 Dayton Dragons

Dayton Dragons 2016 Preview, Part 5: Third Basemen

Published on March 14, 2016 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Dayton Dragons Third Baseman Gavin LaValley
Dayton Dragons Third Baseman Gavin LaValley
(Dayton Dragons)

This is part five of an eight-part series previewing the 2016 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 4. Spring training variables including performance, injuries, trades, and additional player acquisitions will impact the roster accordingly.

Candidates: Gavin LaValley, Brantley Bell.

Heading into each new Dragons season, it is typically a fairly easy process of predicting which players might start the year on the Dragons roster, simply by looking at the Billings Mustangs team from the previous year. If a player played well in Billings, he normally moves up a level to the Dragons the next season. Sometimes the process can be impacted by a bottleneck of players at a higher level, and that scenario could come into play at third base in 2016.

In 2015, the Reds organization lost a third baseman to a suspension at the start of spring training and it forced some reshuffling, with Tanner Sparks jumping from Billings all the way to Advanced-A Daytona, and Gavin LaValley playing in Dayton after playing at Rookie-level Goodyear (one level below Billings) in 2014. Both Sparks and LaValley played well in 2015, but both also had some growing pains. Some observers believe that Sparks will return to Daytona in 2016, at least for the start of the season, and that would result in LaValley coming back to the Dragons to begin the year. Meanwhile, Brantley Bell, the third baseman at Billings in 2015, is certainly ready to move up to the Dragons, but if LaValley is here, the Reds will have to determine how to get both players into the lineup.

Gavin LaValley was a two-sport star during high school in Oklahoma, serving as an offensive lineman on the football team and a third baseman on the baseball team. He had intended to accept a scholarship offer to play baseball at the University of Oklahoma while also playing football. But when the Reds drafted LaValley in the fourth round in 2014, he signed to play professionally.

LaValley began his career as a 19-year-old in the Reds organization in the summer of 2014 at Goodyear and hit .286 with five home runs in 189 at-bats. When Reds Director of Player Development Jeff Graupe visited Fifth Third Field late that summer, he targeted LaValley as a player who could potentially make the jump to Dayton the next season. The jump from Goodyear to Dayton is a big one as the level of competition changes dramatically. While the Arizona League is filled with recent high school draft picks and international players in their late teens, the Midwest League is ripe with college draftees, many out of top national programs. The transition is one that had rarely been made in the Reds system, if at all, in recent years prior to 2015, but LaValley made the jump last season.

LaValley was the Dragons Opening Day third baseman and ended up leading the Dragons in games played, appearing in 125 of the team's 139 games (he missed a week in mid-June with a minor injury). He started slowly and was batting just .212 on May 26 (through 44 games), but got red-hot and lifted his average over the next 18 games all the way to .281 at the end of the first half. For the month of June, LaValley hit .388 and drove in 17 runs in 19 games, posting a slugging percentage of .600. He endured a second half slump but finished at a very respectable .267 with 29 doubles, four home runs, and a team-leading 53 RBI. He also led the team in walks with 50. He typically hit either third or fifth in the Dragons batting order.

When the season began, there was a feeling from some observers that LaValley would struggle mightily on the defensive side and may have to eventually move to first base, but he played fairly well at the hot corner. He committed 21 errors at third base (five other Midwest League third basemen had more) and only saw action in nine games at first base. He seemed to solidify the fact that he could handle third base from a defensive perspective.

When the 2015 season ended, Baseball America ranked LaValley as the 24th best prospect in the Reds organization and the second best prospect among all third basemen (behind Sparks). If LaValley returns to the Dragons in 2016 as a 20-year-old, he would figure to provide the kind of middle-of-the-order bat that could make him a Midwest League all-star.

Brantley Bell, the son of longtime Major League player and former Reds bench coach Jay Bell, was the third baseman at Billings in 2015. Bell, now 21 years old, began his college career at the University of Mississippi in 2014 and played well as a freshman, batting .304 in 102 at-bats for a team that went to the College World Series. But Bell left Mississippi after one season and transferred to a junior college program, State College of Florida. As a teammate of potential 2016 Dragons infielder Mitch Piatnik, Bell batted .325 and hit three home runs, playing second base and shortstop.

The Reds drafted Bell in the 11th round last June and assigned him to Billings, positioning him at third base, where he fit well at 6'3", 185 lbs., possessed with a strong arm. He got off to a great start at Billings and was hitting .336 at the end of the first half. While he did not have a home run, 14 of his 37 hits went for extra bases. As late as August 24, Bell was still hitting .304, but he went into a 1 for 24 slump in the final week of the season and finished at .275. He had 16 doubles, two triples, and 14 stolen bases in 62 games. He hit an amazing .416 with runners in scoring position for the year.

Bell played in 53 games at third base, five games at second base, and two games at shortstop at Billings in 2015. If LaValley does not return to the Dragons, Bell would seem to be a lock to be the Dragons third baseman in 2016. If LaValley returns, new manager Dick Schofield will have to look for ways to get both LaValley and Bell in the lineup. Bell could see some time at other infield positions and play third base on days when LaValley is either playing first base or serving as the designated hitter. As noted in past position previews, the other infield positions also have plenty of potential candidates.

Tanner Rahier is the unknown factor in the Dragons third base picture. Rahier first joined the Dragons as a 19-year-old in 2013 and immediately showed promise. Drafted in the second round in 2012, he was in Dayton only because of an injury to first baseman Carlos Sanchez that forced Dragons manager Jose Nieves to move third baseman Seth Mejias-Brean to first, and Rahier was expected to struggle. But he held his own as a hitter and sparkled as a fielder. Following the season, Baseball America named Rahier as the best defensive infielder in the entire Reds organization. Rahier returned to the Dragons in 2014 and was the #3 hitter in the batting order, where most managers put their best hitter. As late as July 4, about 60 percent of the way through the season, Rahier, at age 20, was batting .297 and was on pace for double-digit home runs.

But some nagging injuries and the effects of a long season really took their toll on Rahier over the final two months. He hit just .133 in the month of August as his final average plummeted all the way to .238. He finished with nine home runs. His final numbers looked nothing like the player Rahier had been for most of the season. Still, Rahier was on schedule to move up a level to Daytona for the 2015 season but was suspended for the entire year.

Rahier is still part of the Reds organization and is likely to return to action in 2016. Following a year of inactivity, it is possible that he starts the season with the Dragons and then advances on to Daytona after shaking off the rust. Rahier has primarily been a third baseman, but he could also see some time at second base.

The Dragons will open their 17th season in the Midwest League on Thursday, April 7 in Bowling Green, Kentucky when they battle the Bowling Green Hot Rods at 7:35 p.m. (hear the game on WONE 980-AM and at DaytonDragons.com). The Dragons annual home "Opening Day" game is Saturday, April 9 at 4:00 p.m. at Fifth Third Field, also against Bowling Green.

Next up: The Outfielders

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Dayton Dragons Third Baseman Gavin LaValley
Dayton Dragons Third Baseman Gavin LaValley
   



Midwest League Stories from March 14, 2016


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