Dayton Dragons GameDay, Game Notes, and Roster for April 4 (First MWL Game of 2025)

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MWL Dayton Dragons

Dayton Dragons GameDay, Game Notes, and Roster for April 4 (First MWL Game of 2025)

April 4, 2025 - Midwest League (MWL)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Friday, April 4, 2025 l Game #1

LMCU Ballpark l Grand Rapids, Mich. l 6:35 p.m.

Radio: Fox Sports 980 WONE

Dayton Dragons (0-0) at West Michigan Whitecaps (0-0)

RH Chase Burns vs. LH Joe Miller

Today's Game: The Dayton Dragons (affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) meet the West Michigan Whitecaps (affiliate of the Detroit Tigers) in the first game of the 2025 Midwest League season for both teams. This is the start of a three-game series.

The Dragons annual home "Opening Night" is Tuesday, April 8 at 7:05 pm vs. the Fort Wayne TinCaps. For ticket information, go to www.daytondragons.com/tickets

Making History: The Dragons are celebrating their 25th Season in 2025. All 25 seasons have featured a partnership with the Cincinnati Reds. Over the Dragons history, 149 players have played for the Dayton club before reaching the Major Leagues.

2025 for the Dragons team: Manager Vince Harrison Jr. returns for his second season with the Dragons. The Dragons roster is headlined by starting pitcher Chase Burns, the second overall selection in the 2024 draft, and the Reds #1 prospect based on MLB Pipeline's rankings. Burns is #2 on the Reds list in the Baseball America rankings, behind former Dragon Rhett Lowder. Also among the Reds top-30 list based on the MLB Pipeline and Baseball America rankings are third baseman Ricardo Cabrera, starting pitcher Adam Serwinowski, shortstop Leo Balcazar, center fielder Carlos Jorge, catcher Connor Burns, and starting pitcher Luke Hayden. 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.

More on Burns: 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.

Starting pitcher Nestor Lorant was selected as the Reds Minor League Pitcher of the Year and the Florida State League Pitcher of the Year in 2024.

Outfielder Ariel Almonte finished second in the Florida State League in home runs in 2024 with 20 with Daytona. He led the FSL in extra base hits.

Catcher/first baseman John Michael Faile hit home runs in his first three games with the Dragons (and first three games in a full-season league) in 2024 including a grand slam in the third game.

Outfielder Myles Smith was selected as the Big West Conference Player of the Year in 2024 after batting .401 with 10 home runs with UC-Irvine.

Upcoming Probable Pitchers (Game times are Dayton time) (All games on WONE 980 AM and www.daytondragons.com)

Saturday, April 5 (2:00 pm): Dayton LH Adam Serwinowski at West Michigan RH Max Alba

Sunday, April 6 (2:00 pm): Dayton RH Gabriel Aguilera at West Michigan LH Andrew Sears

Tuesday, April 8 (7:05 pm): Fort Wayne TBA at Dayton RH Nestor Lorant

Wednesday, April 9 (7:05 pm): Fort Wayne TBA at Dayton RH Jose Montero

Thursday, April 10 (7:05 pm): Fort Wayne TBA at Dayton RH Luke Hayden

Friday, April 11 (7:05 pm): Fort Wayne TBA at Dayton RH Chase Burns

How to Listen: Dragons radio broadcasts of all home and road games are also available on FOX Sports 980 WONE (980 AM), at daytondragons.com, and via the Dragons Mobile App and the iHeart App.

Dragons Ticket Information: daytondragons.com/tickets Dragons 2024 Schedule: milb.com/dayton/schedule

Check out the Dayton Dragons Statistics



Midwest League Stories from April 4, 2025


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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