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Season Summary
- Second Half: 41-28, .594, 2nd place, 3.0 behind
- First Half: 41-29, .586, 1st place, 2.0 ahead (playoff qualifier)
- Pitching: 82-57, 3.68, 40 saves, 1049 strikeouts
- Hitting: .247, 709 runs, 144 HR, 119 steals (65% success)
- Errors: 182 (1.31 per game)
- April: 16-9 (.640)
- May: 14-15 (.483)
- June: 17-9 (.654)
- July: 17-11 (.607)
- August: 16-12 (.571)
- September: 2-1 (.667)
- Best Player on the Team: Starting Pitcher Josh Hall
- Best Starting Pitcher: Josh Hall (2.65, 11-5, 122 strikeouts)
- Bullpen Stopper: Frank Bludau (2.52, 21 saves, 6-3)
- Strikeout Pitchers: Ty Howington, Josh Hall, Ryan Snare, John Koronka
- Control Pitchers: Ty Howington, Josh Hall, Ryan Snare, John Kornoka, Frank Bludau
- Best Hitter: Randy Ruiz (.268, 20 HR, 92 RBI) or Steve Smitherman (.280, 20 HR, 73 RBI)
- Home Run Leader: Samone Peters (28)
- High Batting Average: none
- High On Base Percentage: none
- High Slugging Percentage: Randy Ruiz (.483), Steve Smitherman (.499), Wily Mo Pena (.485), Mike Calitri (.457)
- Notable Baserunners: Randy Ruiz, Steve Smitherman, Wily Mo Pena, David Espinosa, Brian Jones, Marc Suarez, Bryan Anderson
- Notable Batting Eye: none
July Profile
The Dragons continue to score more runs than their raw statistics suggest; nonetheless, this team's strength is its strong pitching staff--despite enormous personnel changes since the season's start.
Josh Hall's emerged nicely in the ace starter role; it's a good thing, because lots of guys have gotten promoted out of Dayton this season. Ryan Snare and Ryan Mottl are also pitching well, and there's some talent in the bullpen. There've also been some token appearances by big league stars....
Here's the Dayton offense: No one will take a walk, but they make up for their lack of patience by knocking the ball over the fence. There's lots of power here, and it's spread around. Wily Mo Pena's the best talent (perhaps in the League), but Randy Ruiz is having the better season.
Also worth watching Relief Pitcher Frank Bludau.
June Profile
The Dragons have a fine pitching staff and are scoring lots of runs. They played excellent ball in June and earned the half-championship.
This team's offense continues to mystify me. There's lots of power, though it's concentrated in four batters; there's lots of speed, too. But they're a bunch of impatient hitters who never walk and are making a strong run at the league record for Most Strikeouts, Team (it's 1169). Dayton's not stranding many runners....
The pitching rotation's developed well, even with its best players promoted and even though the Dragons play in a hitter's park. Bullpen is by committee, but it's working very well.
Notable mid-season losses: Ty Howington & John Koronka (promoted in April).
May Profile
The Dragons slowed down in May, as expected, but are still doing very well. This team scores a lot of runs--because the players hit for extra bases. But there's little depth, and the team's talent mix has some serious weaknesses. The defense needs to improve.
DH Samone Peters and center fielder Wily Mo Pena form this team's heart. Although Peters is much improved this summer, he remains the homer-or-strikeout hitter we remember from Clinton. Pena, in contrast, has lots of baseball tools but has yet to put them together. They're interesting guys to watch, but this isn't the way to build a winning team.
The pitching? Pretty weak. John Koronka figured out how to pitch over the winter, so the Reds moved him to a higher level. Ty Howington's returned after a stay in extended spring training--he might be something special. No one else has shown much, so far.
April Profile
While the Dragons scored lots of runs in April, and finished at the top of the division, it's pretty hard to see how they accomplished it. Dayton shows some power, and the hitters are fairly patient at the plate; on the whole, though, they look like a pretty average MWL team.
Pre-Season Profile
Manager
This will be Donnie Scott's seventh season managing in professional baseball; until this summer, he's worked with rookie teams. Scott's a fairly conservative manager in most respects. He lets good baserunners run; if his team doesn't have good baserunning skills, he looks pretty conventional. He's been very successful.
First Round Draft Selections
- David Espinosa (2000; 23rd selection)
- Ty Howington (1999; 14th selection)
Team Age Information
- Average Team Age: 21.8
- Pitchers: 21.5
- Hitters: 22.0
- Oldest Player on the Team: Marc Suarez (born 1/18/76)
- Youngest Player on the Team: Brad George (born 5/31/82)
The average player in the Midwest League is 21.6 years old. Average ages were calculated from the opening day roster; age as of July 1, 2001.
This website has more information about team ages.
Where they played last season
This is a brief portrait of how the team was put together. These summaries are based on the team's opening day roster and will not be revised to reflect roster changes.
This year's team was pieced together from a variety of sources; these are the strongest players from some fairly lackluster teams.
Team League W/L Place Hitters Pitchers
(Teams)
Dayton Midwest (A) 70/67 7(14) 3 1
Clinton Midwest (A) 71/69 T8(14) 3 3
Billings Pioneer (R+) 39/36 5(8) 6 3
Reds Gulf Coast (R) 14/41 13(13) 1 4
A handful of the 2001 Dragons played for two teams last summer; those players who were moved are counted twice in this table. Two players spent last summer in other organizations; two more did not play professionally. No player on this team played above Single A in 2000.
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