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MWL1 Dayton Dragons

Dragons Team Preview, Part 8: Relief Pitchers (Final Preview)

March 24, 2017 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Dragons Team Preview, Part 8: Relief Pitchers
Dragons Team Preview, Part 8: Relief Pitchers
(Dayton Dragons)

Dayton Dragons 2017 Team Preview, Part 8: The Relief Pitchers

This is the final edition of an eight-part series previewing the 2017 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 3. Spring training variables including performance, injuries, trades, and additional player acquisitions will impact the roster accordingly.

Relief Pitchers

Candidates: Ryan Hendrix, Lucas Benenati, Joel Kuhnel, Patrick Riehl, Jesse Stallings, Andy Cox, Zac Correll, Jesse Adams, Aaron Quillen, Aaron Fossas.

Many observers expect the Dragons bullpen to be one of the most improved areas of the team in 2017, featuring some of the best power arms from the Reds 2016 draft. Some believe this group could rival the 2011 Dragons bullpen that included three relievers with earned run averages below 2.00 (Drew Hayes, Blaine Howell, Daniel Wolford) and another under 3.00 (Chad Rogers).

The composition of the bullpen is usually the most difficult area to predict, simply because there are so many candidates competing for seven or eight roster spots. The bullpens at Billings and Goodyear usually include 12-14 pitchers for each club, and every one of those hurlers is hoping to move up the next season and crack the Dayton roster. That means a lot of competition for seven or eight spots. We will focus on 10 pitchers in this preview, but it is possible that other names will show enough in spring training to earn a ticket to Dayton.

Ryan Hendrix was the highest drafted pitcher in this bunch, selected by the Reds in the fifth round last June out of Texas A&M, a team that was ranked #1 in the nation heading into the 2016 post-season. Hendrix finished the 2016 season with the Dragons and was impressive in 15 appearances.

Hendrix, a native of the Houston area, enjoyed a great high school career and was one of the most highly-regarded prospects in the entire state of Texas by the end of his senior year. He was a 2nd Team All-State selection in baseball and also earned 3rd team All-State honors in basketball. He was drafted by the Cleveland Indians after high school in 2013 but elected to go to Texas A&M.

With the Aggies, he saw some action as a freshman and then enjoyed his best year as a sophomore before earning the role of closer on the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team in the summer of 2015. Baseball America commented that if the 2016 draft had been held at the end of the 2015 summer season, Hendrix would have been a likely second round pick. Hendrix reached 101 mph with his fastball in his junior year of 2016 but struggled with control at Texas A&M and saw his draft stock fall a bit. Still, the Reds were thrilled to get him in the fifth round.

After signing with the Reds, Hendrix opened his professional career at Billings last summer and pitched briefly with the Mustangs before joining the Dragons in mid-July. He was dominant in his early outings with the Dayton club and did not surrender a run until his seventh appearance. As the season moved into its final two weeks, Hendrix had an ERA with the Dragons of 0.87 in 11 relief outings, notching 20 strikeouts and only six walks in 20.2 innings.

Unfortunately, as every relief pitcher eventually discovers, one bad inning can really change your season statistical line. In a game at West Michigan on August 21, Hendrix gave up five runs in the eighth inning, causing his ERA to jump by about two full runs. He finished the year with a 3.04 ERA, nowhere near indicative of how well he had pitched. His control numbers were good with eight walks and 31 strikeouts in 26.2 innings, and opposing batters hit just .212 against him. His record finished at 3-1. He was equally good against both left-handed and right-handed batters.

Hendrix is ranked as the #24 prospect in the Reds organization by Baseball America entering the 2017 season. If you were picking a pre-season Midwest League Relief Pitcher of the Year, Hendrix would have to get a lot of consideration.

Lucas Benenati had a first season of professional baseball similar in direction to Ryan Hendrix. He signed with the Reds, went to Billings for a few weeks, and then joined the Dragons in mid-July to close out the season.

Benenati played college baseball at Kansas State University. In 2016 as a senior, he was the KSU closer and had six of the team's nine saves with a 3.81 ERA. He was drafted by the Reds in the 10th round. Benenati has good size at 6-foot 2, 215 lbs., and a good fastball in the mid-90s.

After a nine-inning tune-up at Billings, Benenati joined the Dragons and pitched well. In 14 games, he posted a 2.77 ERA and most impressively, walked only one hitter while striking out 25 in 26 innings. Much like Hendrix, most of the damage against Benenati came in a short window. In his last two outings, he gave up five earned runs after surrendering only three in the 12 games beforehand. His ERA entering those last two outings was 1.19.

Joel Kuhnel is another power arm with good size at 6-foot 4, 265 lbs. Kuhnel was the Reds 11th round draft pick in 2016 out of the University of Texas-Arlington, a Sun Belt Conference school, where he had an outstanding college career.

Kuhnel does not have far to go to get to spring training from his home in Peoria, Arizona, just a few miles from the Reds camp in Goodyear. He spent a season at the junior college level before transferring to UTA, where he was a key starting pitcher for two years. In 2016, Kuhnel made 12 starts at the college level and went 6-4 with a 2.99 ERA. He showed excellent control in his two seasons in Arlington, allowing only 34 walks in 156 innings while striking out 96. Kuhnel actually began to draw the attention of pro scouts in the summer after his 2015 college season when he pitched in the Jayhawk League, a wood bat summer league for college players. He was named by Baseball America as the #1 prospect in the league after he went through the season without allowing an earned run in 15 appearances as a reliever.

After signing with the Reds, Kuhnel was sent to Billings and appeared in 18 games, strictly used out of the bullpen. With the Mustangs, he posted four saves in five opportunities and finished with a 3.43 ERA in 21 innings. Again, his control was brilliant as he allowed only one walk all season while striking out 14. In the Pioneer League playoffs, he was nearly perfect, appearing in three of the Mustangs four post-season games and tossing five shutout innings. Kuhnel has a mid-90's fastball and is highly-regarded by the Reds.

Patrick Riehl is another hard-thrower who was drafted by the Reds in the 26th round in 2016 out of Mars Hill College, an NCAA Division II school near Asheville, North Carolina. Riehl was the first player from Mars Hill to be drafted since 1988.

Riehl is a native of Lucasville, Ohio, located about 100 miles southeast of Dayton, just north of Portsmouth. He spent four seasons at Mars Hill but missed time with a serious injury and was not a dominant pitcher at the college level. In 2016, he went 3-2 with a 6.57 ERA in 13 games. Riehl does possess good size at 6-foot 5, 235 lbs., and the kind of power arm that the Reds felt they could develop. He was assigned to Billings after the draft and appeared in 22 games out of the Mustangs bullpen, going 5-2 with two saves and a 3.76 ERA. His secondary numbers were all good. He walked only 12 hitters in 38 innings and struck out 36. Right-handed batters combined to hit only .200 against him with a .583 OPS, though he will need to improve against lefties.

Jesse Stallings is yet another hard-throwing selection from the 2016 draft. Stallings was a 15th round pick by the Reds out of LSU, where his fastball worked at 96 mph. He is a native of Colfax, Louisiana.

Stallings suffered an elbow injury as a high schooler and eventually underwent Tommy John surgery that caused him to take a medical redshirt for his freshman season at LSU in 2014. He got on the mound in 2015 and served as the Tigers closer, a tough task for a redshirt freshman in the baseball-rich Southeastern Conference. But Stallings was more than up for the challenge. He notched 12 saves, the fourth highest total in LSU history, and posted a 2.73 ERA in 31 appearances. Stallings earned freshman All-American honors from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

In the spring of 2016, Stallings went 3-0 with a 3.64 ERA at LSU, appearing in 25 games with two starts. He was also a member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll.

After signing with the Reds, Stallings went to Billings and appeared in 19 games with the Mustangs, all in relief. He got off to an excellent start, allowing just one run over his first seven professional outings covering nine and two-thirds innings. He finished with five saves in six chances and a 5.09 ERA at Billings. Over 16 of his 19 appearances, he allowed just four earned runs in 20 innings for a 1.80 ERA. In the other three outings, he surrendered nine of the 14 earned runs he gave up with Billings. He will be looking to eliminate those bouts of inconsistency in 2017.

Kuhnel, Riehl, and Stallings all spent the entire first seasons of their pro careers at Billings, sharing duties at the back end of the bullpen. All three have consistently been clocked at 95-97 mph. Add Hendrix, who has hit 101 mph, and you could have the hardest-throwing bullpen in Dragons history in 2017.

Andy Cox is the first left-hander in our Dragons bullpen preview. He was a college teammate of former Dragons third baseman Nick Senzel at the University of Tennessee. Cox was selected by the Reds in the seventh round of the 2016 draft.

Cox spent four years with the Volunteers and left the school as Tennessee's all-time career leader in games pitched with 91. He made 27 starts over four years. Cox's best year at UT was his sophomore season in 2014 when he went 5-1 with a 2.44 ERA and two saves in 27 appearances. He allowed just 47 hits in 77 innings. His numbers in 2015 as a junior were also good as he went 3-3 with a 3.36 ERA. His senior year did not go as well, although he did continue to get extensive use as he appeared in 22 games with eight starts and went 3-6 with a 6.72 ERA.

After signing with the Reds, Cox spent the 2016 summer at Billings. He made 24 relief appearances to tie for third in the Pioneer League. He got off to a poor start but made adjustments and had a strong second half. After posting a first half ERA of 7.07 with a .350 opponents batting average in 12 games, he looked like a different pitcher in the second half. In 12 second half games, opponents hit just .176 against Cox and his ERA was a strong 2.79. In total, Cox went 3-0 with a 4.59 ERA and one save. Left-handed batters went 7 for 44 (.159) with only one extra base hit against Cox for the year.

Jesse Adams, another left-hander, is a native of the Toledo area who played at Boston College. He was selected by the Reds in the 14th round last June and saw brief action later in the summer with the Dragons.

Adams had a stellar high school career at St. John's Jesuit, posting an overall record of 22-1. He was named the Three Rivers Athletic Conference Player of the Year and 2nd Team All-State as a senior before moving on to Boston College.

Adams spent four years at BC, mostly as a reliever, and left the school with the third highest total of games pitched in school history. As a senior in 2016, he served as the team's closer and helped Boston College advance all the way to the NCAA Super Regionals and a final national ranking of #15. He led the team in saves with six and went 5-5 with a 4.41 ERA. Adams probably enjoyed his best season at BC as a junior in 2015 when he posted a 3.05 ERA and struck out 70 batters in 62 innings, allowing just 46 hits.

After signing with the Reds, Adams reported to Billings and worked out of a deep Mustangs bullpen, joining Hendrix, Benenati, Kuhnel, Riehl, Stallings, Cox, and others. Adams, who does not fit the same mold of power pitcher as most of the others on the list, actually enjoyed the most success of anyone in the Billings bullpen in 2016. He appeared in 14 games and logged a 1.32 ERA ERA, allowing just two earned runs. He had a short stint with the Dragons in early August before returning to Billings. In Dayton, he appeared in two games and pitched four innings, allowing two runs.

Zac Correll is one of the tallest pitchers in the Reds organization at 6-foot 7. He is a native of Swansea, Massachusetts and was drafted by the Reds out of Joseph Case High School in the 13th round in 2014. He has spent three seasons in the Reds organization.

Correll went 8-2 with a 0.54 ERA as a high school senior and was a finalist for the Massachusetts Mr. Baseball award. After being drafted that summer, he signed with the Reds and made four starts with Goodyear, tossing a combined 10.1 scoreless innings. He returned to Goodyear in 2015 and made 13 appearances including four starts, going 3-4 with a 4.46 ERA.

In 2016, Correll moved up to Billings and was a key member of the Mustangs pitching staff. He made 18 appearances with three starts, going 5-0 with a 2.64 ERA. He secondary numbers were impressive as he walked only eight and struck out 51 in 44.1 innings, giving up only 37 hits. His ratio of 1.08 walks per nine innings was the best in the league among relievers.

Aaron Quillen is also in the battle for a spot in the Dayton bullpen. At 6-foot 6, he was drafted by the Reds in the 22nd round in 2016 out of Belmont University in Nashville, where he was a starting pitcher in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Quillen began his college career at the University of Tennessee, where he made 12 starts as a freshman and was a teammate of fellow bullpen candidate Andy Cox. He transferred to junior college for a season before spending his last two years of college at Belmont. He was a 2nd Team All-Conference pick as a junior and then made 15 starts as a senior, going 5-5 with a 4.59 ERA. He logged 97.2 innings during the 2016 college season, a high total, and struck out 118.

The Reds signed Quillen and sent him to Billings, where he pitched in 16 games including two starts. He went 1-0 with a 4.13 ERA. Subtract one bad outing from his final numbers and his 2017 ERA would have been 2.78. His best outing came late in the season as he earned his only decision, firing five shutout innings and allowing just one hit and no walks while striking out seven.

Aaron Fossas is the nephew of Tony Fossas, a longtime Major League reliever who served as the Dragons pitching coach for five seasons before moving into his current role of Cincinnati Reds Minor League Pitching Coordinator. Aaron Fossas, who played at Wake Forest, was signed by the Reds as an undrafted free agent last summer.

Fossas spent five years at Wake Forest and was a two-time team captain. He missed most of the 2015 season after Tommy John surgery and was limited in the spring of 2016 as he returned to action. His best year at Wake Forest came in 2014 when he anchored their bullpen, going 5-1 with 10 saves and a 3.51 ERA.

After signing with the Reds, Fossas went to Goodyear and was outstanding as his velocity began to return after the surgery. He pitched in 18 games and went 2-0 with a 2.55 ERA. He allowed only 12 hits in 24.2 innings, limiting opponents to a .143 batting average. He walked only eight and struck out 31. He closed out the season with his best game, tossing four perfect innings as a starter and striking out six. As he got healthier, he got better. In his last five appearances covering 13.1 innings, he allowed just four hits and one run with two walks and 16 strikeouts.

This concludes our 2017 eight-part Dragons team preview. The team will arrive at Dayton International Airport on Sunday, April 2 and hold their first workout at Fifth Third Field on April 4. The Dragons will open their 18th season in the Midwest League on Thursday, April 6 at 7:00 p.m. For 2017 ticket options, call (937) 228-2287.

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Dragons Team Preview, Part 8: Relief Pitchers
Dragons Team Preview, Part 8: Relief Pitchers
   



Midwest League Stories from March 24, 2017


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