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2022 Great Lakes Loons Opening Day Roster Headlined By Eddys Leonard, Jorbit Vivas & Hyun il-Choi

Matt Borelli
3 Min Read
Allan Henry/USA TODAY Sports

The Great Lakes Loons, High-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, announced their preliminary roster for the 2022 season ahead of Friday’s Opening Day matchup against the West Michigan Whitecaps at Dow Diamond.

The team begins the year with 31 active players, 21 of whom spent at least a portion of the 2021 season in Great Lakes. Of the 31 players, seven were taken in the 2021 MLB Draft, and only five have spent time with an organization other than the Dodgers.

The Loons roster is headlined by Eddys Leonard (No. 8), Jorbit Vivas (No. 9), Nick Nastrini (No. 13), Gavin Stone (No. 18) and Hyun il-Choi (No. 28), all of whom appear on Baseball America’s list of top-30 Dodgers prospects heading into the 2022 season.

Leonard batted a combined .296/.390/.539 with 29 doubles and 22 home runs for Low-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes and Loons last season. He’s played second base, third base, shortstop and center field thus far in the Minors.

Vivas also saw time with the Quakes and Loons last season, hitting a collective .312/.396/.496 with 26 doubles, four triples, 14 home runs and 87 RBI in 106 games.

Nastrini split the 2021 season between the Dodgers’ Rookie-level affiliate and Quakes, posting a combined 1.93 ERA and 1.00 WHIP with 32 strikeouts in 14 innings pitched (seven starts).

Stone made 23 appearances (22 starts) between the Quakes and Loons, going 2-2 with a 3.76 ERA and 1.23 WHIP with 138 strikeouts in 91 innings pitched.

Choi most notably was the Dodgers’ Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2021. In 24 games between the Quakes and Loons, he went 8-6 with a 3.55 ERA and 0.97 WHIP over 106.1 innings pitched.

Leonel Valera and Cole Percival are among the other notable players on the Loons’ preliminary roster for the 2022 season.

Valera, returning for his third season in Midland, is the team’s career leader in games played at shortstop. Percival is the son of four-time MLB-All Star Troy Percival, who recorded 358 saves in 14 MLB seasons.

Great Lakes Loons 2022 roster

Pitchers (18): Aldry Acosta , Carlos Alejo, Jacob Cantleberry, Hyun-il Choi , Cole Duensing, Jose Hernandez, Michael Hobbs, Kyle Hurt, Antonio Knowles, Jordan Leasure, Lael Lockhart, Kevin Malisheski, Nick Nastrini, Cole Percival, Emmet Sheehan, Julian Smith, Gavin Stone, Ryan Sublette

Catchers (3): Ryan January, Kekai Rios, Juan Zabala

Infielders (5): Zac Ching, Eddys Leonard, Leonel Valera, Imanol Vargas, Jorbit Vivas

Outfielders (5): Ismael Alcantara, Aldrich De Jongh, Jonny Deluca, Edwin Mateo, Joe Vranesh

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Matt Borelli covers the Los Angeles Dodgers as a staff writer for Dodger Blue and holds similar responsibilities for Lakers Nation, a sister site with an emphasis on the Los Angeles Lakers. He also contributes to RamsNewswire.com and RaidersNewswire.com. An avid fantasy sports player, Matt is a former 2014 MLB Beat the Streak co-champion. His favorite Dodgers moment, among a list of many, is Clayton Kershaw's no-hitter against the Colorado Rockies in 2014. Follow him on Twitter: @mcborelli.