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MWL1 Dayton Dragons

Dragons 2015 Team Preview, Part 8: Outfielders

March 27, 2015 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Dayton Dragons News Release


This is the final installment of an eight-part series previewing the 2015 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 5. Spring training variables including performance, injuries, trades, and additional player acquisitions will impact the roster accordingly.

Before beginning our final team preview installment, it is noted that one of the realities of every spring training camp is that there are far fewer jobs available than players in camp. The following former Dragons have been released so far this month by the Reds: pitchers Tony Amezcua, Wagner Gomez, Ryan Kemp, Luke Moran, Austin Muehring, Mike Saunders, Jefry Sierra, Jamie Walczak; and infielder Brent Peterson. Former Dragons infielders Neftali Soto and Devin Lohman have been traded to other organizations by the Reds. Pitcher Jordan Remer, included among the candidates in the 2015 Dragons Bullpen Preview, has also been released. Best of luck moving forward to each of these players.

Click links on each name for career stats and player information.

Outfielders

Candidates: Aristides Aquino, Jonathan Reynoso, Jimmy Pickens, Nick Benedetto, Gabriel Rosa, Narciso Crook. (First basemen/outfielders Brian O'Grady and Argenis Aldazora previously profiled with first basemen).

Right fielder Aristides Aquino, according to most credible lists, is a top-10 prospect in the Reds organization and is rated as high as #3 in some places. Aquino is regarded by many as the second best outfield prospect in the Reds system, trailing only former Dragon Jesse Winker. Baseball America ranks Aquino as the Reds #9 overall prospect and #2 outfield prospect. Most observers would rank Aquino as the top prospect on the 2015 Dragons, assuming he comes to Dayton as expected.

Statistically, Aquino enjoyed a monster season in 2014 with the Reds Rookie-level affiliate, the Billings Mustangs, leading the team to a Pioneer League championship. He could have easily been selected as the league's Most Valuable Players but settled instead as one of three outfielders on the end-of-season Pioneer League All-Star team. His name was splattered all over the league-leader board. He led the league in runs batted in, extra base hits, total bases, and doubles; finished second in home runs, slugging percentage, and stolen bases; and fourth in base hits. His finished the year batting .292 with 16 homers in 71 games, 23 doubles, five triples, 21 stolen bases, a slugging percentage of .577, and an OPS of .931. The most amazing offensive number was the RBI total. He drove in 64 runs in a short-season league. The number would translate to 128 over a Midwest League season. The Dragons club record is 113 by Wily Mo Pena in 2001.

On top of his combination of home run power, base stealing ability, and high batting average, Aquino put up an even more amazing defensive statistic. He notched 13 assists in 65 games from right field. The 2014 Midwest League outfield assists leader had 14. The Midwest League plays a 140-game schedule. Aquino's arm in the outfield is almost unmatched in professional baseball.

Baseball America's scouting report on Aquino calls him a "tall, live-bodied right fielder with a big arm...a student of the game...one of the Reds most well-rounded position prospects." At 6'4", 190 lbs., he is 20 years old and a native of the Dominican Republic. Longtime Reds observers compare his game to that of former Reds MVP George Foster.

Aquino hit third or fourth in the Billings batting order last season. He hit .355 with runners on base, posting an OPS of 1.108 in those situations. Basically, he was unstoppable. He will move up a level in 2015 and join the Dragons coming off the biggest year by any Billings player in years.

Jonathan Reynoso hopes to bounce back from a tough season in 2014 with the Dragons and regain the top-10 prospect status that he once held. Entering the 2013 season, Reynoso was rated as the #10 prospect in the Reds system by Baseball America after a strong year with the Goodyear Reds. But he endured an injury-shortened season (knee surgery) at Billings in 2013, batting .238 with two home runs in 38 games. He was still listed as the #20 prospect in the system heading into 2014. Reynoso began the '14 season in extended spring training and joined the Dragons to start the second half, serving as the Dayton everyday right fielder the rest of the way. He never really got on track, batting .229 with no home runs in 52 games. He did steal eight bases and was thrown out only once.

Reynoso is now a full season removed from knee surgery and at age 22, has a half season of Midwest League experience as he heads into 2015. When Reynoso arrived in Dayton last June, Dragons manager Jose Nieves said he had the ability to play center field, though he spent almost all of his time in right after joining the club. With Aquino set to play right in 2015, Reynoso could become the Dragons starting center fielder. He may also see some time in left.

Jimmy Pickens is a former star at Michigan State University who joined the Reds as a 15th round draft pick last summer. Pickens was First Team All-Big Ten at MSU in the spring of 2014, batting a team-leading .318 with a slugging percentage of .473 that ranked seventh in the conference. He was a starter over all three seasons at Michigan State, earning Big Ten All-Freshman honors in 2012 and Second Team All-Conference in 2013. Pickens was drafted by the Tigers following his high school career and was rated as the sixth best prep player in the state of Michigan by Perfect Game in 2011. He was also a football four-year letterman and captain in high school as a running back and safety, and he played basketball.

After signing with the Reds, Pickens went to Billings and took over as the Mustangs left fielder. He got off to a rough start as his average stood at .168 on August 6, but he finished strongly, batting .283 over his final 19 games and ended the season at .208 with three home runs and 19 RBI. Now with a season of experience using the wood bat, Pickens should show much improvement with the Dragons in 2015.

Nick Benedetto is an interesting prospect to follow in the Reds organization. A native of Venezuela born of Italian ancestry, Benedetto has been what might be termed a "defensive specialist" to this point in his professional career. In fact, his work in center field is so highly regarded that Baseball America selected him as the "Best Defensive Outfielder" in the entire Reds organization after the 2014 season despite the fact that he has played only 40 games in a full-season league.

In early May, 2014, the Reds promoted Dragons center fielder Beau Amaral to Pensacola. With a pitching staff filled with top prospects, the Reds elected to bring the best available defensive center fielder to Dayton to track down fly balls and prevent runs, so Benedetto got the call despite the fact that he had batted just .165 the previous year at Billings. With great pitching, the Reds were willing to sacrifice some offense, knowing that Benedetto would save some runs in the field. Low and behold, in Benedetto's very first swing with the Dragons on May 10, he cracked a home run at Fifth Third Field, just the third of Benedetto's pro career. Benedetto did give the Dragons exemplary defense in center field, but former first round draft pick Phillip Ervin was also given some chances in center and improved his defense significantly, allowing the Reds to eventually send Benedetto back to Billings to improve his offensive game. In 22 games at Billings, he hit .269, an improvement of 104 points over the previous year, and he was promoted back to Dayton. For the year, Benedetto played in 40 games for the Dragons, batting .221 with two homers and 17 RBI.

Benedetto is 22 years old and showed rapid improvement at the plate in 2014. If he can continue in that direction in 2015, he will become a very valuable commodity because of his tremendous defensive skills. He is the kind of player that managers (and pitching coaches) love to have on the club because he will take runs away from the opposing offense. If he starts to hit, he could enjoy a long career.

Gabriel Rosa appeared in 45 games for the Dragons in 2014 as he made the move from third base to the outfield. Roas was a second round draft pick in 2011 out of high school in Puerto Rico and is still only 21 years old. He still has the excellent tools that scouts saw when they took him high in the draft with a great arm, home run power, and good speed for a player that is 6'4". To date, Rosa has not been able to put together a strong offensive season and has struggled to stay healthy. In 145 career games, he has posted a batting average of .202 with 11 home runs, 50 RBI, and 30 stolen bases. He hit .170 with three homers for the Dragons last summer. Rosa hopes to stay healthy in 2015 and earn playing time in the outfield, where he can play all three positions.

Narciso Crook is the youngest and least experienced candidate in this group and if he starts the year in extended spring training, he may join the Dragons later in the season. Crook is big, fast, and athletic at 6'3", 220 lbs as a 19 year old. Crook was born in the Dominican Republic but moved to Trenton, New Jersey as an 11-year-old. Following high school, he enrolled at Gloucester Community College and led the team to a 49-3 record and the National Junior College World Series title. During his freshman year (2013), he belted four home runs in one game. The Reds drafted him in the 23rd round and signed him for the 2014 season.

Crook spent his first season in professional baseball with the Goodyear Reds in the Arizona League. He batted .255 with four home runs and 20 RBI in 42 games, mostly hitting third in the batting order. Crook also stole 12 bases in 13 tries. He split his time between left field and right, but some observers feel that he has the speed and agility to play center. Crook's step-father, Alvis Darby, played football in the NFL, and his cousin, Angel Pena, reached the Major Leagues with the Dodgers. Reports are that Crook is a player who is improving rapidly.

Brian O'Grady and Argenis Aldazoro were both profiled in the first base preview . Both would figure to be everyday players for the Dragons (one at first base, the other in the outfield), but Aldazoro is reportedly battling an injury and his status for the start of the season is unknown. O'Grady, meanwhile, has gotten six at-bats for the Reds in Major League spring games this month and may settle in as the Dragons starting first baseman.

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