Dayton Dragons 2026 Team Preview, Part 6: the Outfielders
MWL Dayton Dragons

Dayton Dragons 2026 Team Preview, Part 6: the Outfielders

Published on March 20, 2026 under Midwest League (MWL)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Dayton Dragons outfielder Anthony Stephan
Dayton Dragons outfielder Anthony Stephan
(Dayton Dragons)

The Dayton Dragons annual home "Opening Night" game is set for Tuesday, April 7 against the Lake County Captains at 7:05 pm at Day Air Ballpark. The Dragons will officially open their season on the road a few days earlier, on April 2 against the Lansing Lugnuts in Lansing, Michigan.

This is part six of an eight-part series previewing the 2026 Dragons. Players listed here are candidates for positions on the Dragons season-opening roster.

This preview is an unofficial projection of possible roster candidates. Minor League rosters are not established until March 31. Spring training variables including performance, injuries, trades, and additional player acquisitions will impact the roster accordingly.

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

The Outfielders

Candidates: Mason Neville, Kien Vu, Kyle Henley, Anthony Stephan, Yerlin Confidan, Ariel Almonte, Esmith Pineda

Before diving into the player previews today, it was notable that in the Reds annual Spring Breakout Game (a game featuring top minor league prospects) last night, Reds prospects defeated Giants prospects 10-1. Several players profiled in today's outfield preview, and some players who have been previewed at other positions, played in the game. Mason Neville started the game in right field for the Reds team, while Kyle Henley finished the game in center field and Kien Vu finished in left. Other players who could or likely will open the 2026 season with the Dragons who played in the game included Alfredo Duno, the starting catcher for the Reds prospect team; Ryan McCrystal, the starting DH, and Carlos Sanchez, the starting third baseman; and Tyson Lewis, who came off the bench to replace Sanchez at third base.

The Dragons 2025 outfield often featured some combination of Carlos Jorge, Anthony Stephan, Yerlin Confidan, and Ariel Almonte. Jorge is likely to move up one level in 2026 to Double-A Chattanooga, while the other three could return to Dayton, although Stephan is probably in the competition to move to Chattanooga along with Jorge.

Let's begin our look at the outfield with two exciting Reds draft picks from 2025 who may or may not be quite ready to jump to the High-A level. These two players have very limited professional experience and the Reds will determine whether it is best to start them in Dayton or a level lower in Daytona in April.

Mason Neville was the NCAA co-leader in home runs in 2025 at the University of Oregon when he blasted 26 to set a school record. Along with the home run total, Neville's slugging percentage of .724 and walks total of 53 also were the most ever in a single season for a Ducks player. Neville batted .290 with an OPS of 1.153. He was selected as a First Team All-American by the NCBWA, Second Team All-American by Perfect Game, and Third Team All-American by Baseball America and two other publications. He became only the third consensus All-America honoree in the history of Oregon baseball.

The Reds selected Neville in the fourth round of the 2025 draft. Baseball America currently has him ranked as the Reds #17 prospect, third highest among all outfielders, trailing only former Dragon Hector Rodriguez and rookie-level prospect Adolfo Sanchez.

Baseball America had this to say about Neville:

"Neville has been a tool shed dating back to his prep days when he was a top 200 prospect with power, speed and real talent on the mound...At 6-foot-3, 210 pounds, Neville has a big league frame and a strong, athletic build...He can drive the ball out of the park to the opposite field, but he does most of his damage to right field. Neville's secondary tools remain exciting. He has above-average speed and above-average arm strength. He moved from a primary corner to Oregon's starting center fielder in 2025 and has a chance to stick there if he can sharpen his routes and instincts."

After being drafted by the Reds in July of 2025, Neville got into 23 games at Daytona and batted .247 with one home run and nine RBI. He is likely to be an exciting player at Day Air Ballpark at some point, whether at the start of the 2026 season or sometime later.

Kien Vu had a huge 2024 sophomore season at Arizona State University when he batted .413 to win the PAC 12 batting title and finish sixth in the country. He also added 14 home runs in just 47 games. Vu followed that up with another strong season in 2025 as a junior at ASU, batting .354 with 10 home runs and 21 stolen bases. Vu was a Third Team All-American (NCBWA) in 2024.

The Reds selected Vu in the ninth round of the 2025 draft. Baseball America's scouting report was flattering.

"Vu is a do-it-all outfielder with a 5-foot-11, 185-pound frame and a well-rounded, but not flashy, toolset that has allowed him to make an impact in all phases for Arizona State...He's a solid runner who gets out the box nicely and turns in average run times, with instincts that allow his pure speed to play up on the bases. He went 37-for-44 (84.1%) in stolen base attempts throughout college and might have the speed to play center field. He's played all three outfield positions with Arizona State, but primarily right field as a junior."

After the Reds drafted Vu in 2025, he was assigned to Daytona and hit well, batting .273 with four home runs in just 23 games. He was the Florida State League Player of the Week for August 11-17 when he batted .467 with six doubles in five games.

Another young prospect that could start the year with either Dayton or Daytona is blazing fast center fielder Kyle Henley. The 21-year-old native of Atlanta is reported to be one of the fastest players to come through the Reds organization in recent years. He is 6'2", 180 lbs. and was a 14th round draft pick in 2023 by the Reds out of Denmark High School in Alpharetta, Georgia.

Henley spent the entire 2025 season with Daytona in his first year of full-season minor league baseball. On the positive side of the ledger, he led the Florida State League in stolen bases with 57 and finished second in the league in runs scored. On May 18, 2025, he produced an extreme baseball rarity when he stole home twice in the same game. Henley batted a credible .267 (the league average was .234). But he also struck out 135 times in 422 plate appearances, a strikeout rate of 32 percent, while connecting on only one home run.

Henley briefly cracked into the Reds top-30 prospect list in 2024 when he was ranked as the team's #30 prospect by MLB Pipeline. He is still young and is a player that would enter the list with one strong breakout season. The high strikeout rate might cause Henley to start the 2026 season back in Daytona, though his ability to play center field might push him to the Dragons if he shows he is capable in spring training.

Anthony Stephan made his professional debut with the Dragons in 2025 after being selected in the 13th round of the 2024 draft out of the University of Virginia. He had some big hits for the Dragons including the team's only grand slam homer of the year in April. He also had a huge three-run home run that lifted the Dragons to one of their biggest comebacks in franchise history on June 22 when Dayton trailed Fort Wayne 10-2 in the fifth inning and rallied to win 12-11. Stephan's home run in the sixth inning tied the game as he finished the day with four hits and six RBI.

Stephan was limited by injuries to 85 games with the Dragons in 2025 and batted .245 with seven home runs, nine stolen bases, and an OPS of .746. His best defensive position is left field. The overall numbers came in slightly above the Midwest League average but he deserves credit for holding his own while making the tough adjustment from college baseball to the pro level. Not many position players drafted after the fourth round have been able to start their pro careers at the High-A level, as Stephan did with the Dragons in 2025, but he was one of the team's most dependable hitters and often hit fourth in the lineup. The number of available outfielders in the Reds system at the Double-A level is a little low at this time, and Stephan could potentially jump to Chattanooga, or he could return to the Dragons and try to build on his success in 2025.

Yerlin Confidan made his High-A debut with the Dragons in 2025 and delivered flashes of potential but did not show the kind of progress that would create expectations of a promotion to Double-A. Confidan played in a team-leading 112 games with the Dragons in '25, batting .224 with four home runs, 20 doubles, 12 stolen bases, and an OPS of .635. Confidan is athletic with good size at 6'4", 212 lbs. He hits the ball hard, offering some of the highest exit velocities off his bat of any player in the Reds organization. Defensively, he fits best in either left or right field. He is a 23 year old native of the Dominican Republic.

Ariel Almonte joined the Dragons in 2025 after blasting 21 home runs with Single-A Daytona the previous year, but he never found his grove in Dayton and lost some playing time in the second half of the season. Almonte finished the year at .193 with seven home runs in 91 games. He was mostly stationed in right field for the Dragons in 2025. Almonte could get an opportunity for a second season in Dayton in '26 as he tries to regain the prospect status he held after being signed as a highly-regarded international free agent in 2021.

Esmith Pineda, a native of Panama, joined the Dragons at the tail end of the 2025 season, appearing in just eight games, after spending most of the season at Single-A Daytona. Pineda hit .259 at Daytona, adding seven home runs in 102 games as a corner outfielder. He could factor in as a fourth or fifth outfielder for the Dragons in 2026.

There is a question of which outfielder will replace Jorge in center field for the Dragons in 2026. Jorge was one of the best defensive outfielders in many years at Day Air Ballpark. Most of the outfielders on this list are primarily expected to be in corner positions. Henley is a pure center fielder, but he is far from a certainty to start the year from the Dragons. Neville and Vu both have experience in center field if they make the jump to Dayton. The two players who played center field for the Reds in last night's Spring Breakout game were Jorge and Henley.

Another possibility in center field is Carlos Sanchez, who has already been discussed at both shortstop and third base in our previous profiles. Sanchez played a few games in center field in 2025 with the Dragons. One frequent observer at Day Air Ballpark, a well-known former major leaguer, felt Sanchez's future was in center. If Tyson Lewis makes the Dragons roster at shortstop, perhaps Sanchez will move from the infield to center field, just as Jorge did two years earlier, with great success.

Next up: Starting Pitchers

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Dayton Dragons outfielder Anthony Stephan
Dayton Dragons outfielder Anthony Stephan
   



Midwest League Stories from March 20, 2026


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