The Great Lakes Loons kick off their 2015 season with a home game at Dow Diamond against the Fort Wayne TinCaps on Thursday, April 9th with a 6:05 P.M. start. The Loons are the Dodgers Class A affiliate in the Midwest League.

A preliminary roster for the Loons was released on Monday. Only six players are returning to the Loons having played part of the 2014 season with the Midland franchise with just one of those being a returning pitcher. Reliever Kyle Hooper will again begin the season with the Loons after having played with the Adelaide Bite in the Australian Baseball League during the winter.

The rest of the roster will be getting their first taste of baseball in the Midwest League. Also getting his first look at the Loons will be new play-by-play broadcaster Chris Vosters beginning his inaugural season in the Great Lakes booth. Vosters is replacing the popular Brad Golder who had been with the Loons since their first season in Midland in 2007. Golder has moved on to pursue other opportunities.

The starting staff which may yet have to be tweaked has an entirely new look although it again will feature some pitchers young for the league just as it did in 2014.

It is expected that right-hander Grant Holmes (19) will take the hill for the season opener on Thursday. Holmes was selected by the Dodgers in the first round of the 2014 First year Player Draft. He has been compared to Chad Billingsley and has already made his way onto Dodgers Top 10 Prospect lists pushing towards the top five. With the Arizona League Dodgers in 2014 he had an ERA of 3.00 and a WHIP of 0.90 while allowing only 20 hits in 30 innings. He struck out 33 and walked 7. He had a rough outing in his first start with the Ogden Raptors but followed that with three strong starts allowing only three earned runs in 15 innings. He continued to have good control by striking out 25 in 18 innings while walking six.

Without question, Dodgers 2014 first-round draft pick Grant Holmes will garner much of the attention with the Loons in 2015. (Photo credit – Noall Knighton)

Kevin Guzman (20) in 2014 with the Arizona league Dodgers continued his strong play from the Dominican Summer League in 2013. He finished with an ERA of 3.33 and a WHIP of 1.15 while striking out 48 and walking twelve in 54 innings. Guzman pitched the entire season as a nineteen year old. On August 16th the right-hander came within a walk of pitching seven perfect innings. In the second half of the season he posted an ERA of 1.88 and a WHIP of 0.87. He was signed by the Dodgers as a non-drafted free agent on May 29, 2013.

Victor Gonzalez (19) had a 6.09 earned-run average in 12 games for the Rookie Level Ogden Raptors last season. Although that would seem to suggest he is not ready for Class-A ball, he pitched the entire season as an 18-year old. The young left-hander was signed by legendary scout Mike Brito out of Mexico in July of 2012. Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal after participating in a minor league game on the back field in spring training was quite impressed after standing in the box against Gonzalez. He noted that Gonzalez was sitting in the low 90′s, reminding him of “Urias without polish” — more typical of a 19-year-old’s repertoire, but with tons of promise.

J.D. Underwood (22) was selected by the Dodgers in the fifth round of the 2013 First Year Player Draft out of Palm Beach State Junior College in Florida. He is the son of former major league pitcher Tom Underwood. The 6’2, 215-pound right-hander posted a 6.75 ERA with the Rookie League Ogden Raptors in 2014 while experiencing some command problems. Scouting reports indicate he has an upside that should help him get on track in 2015: “He has a feel for three at-least average pitches with his fastball, curveball and changeup. He tops out at around 92 mph, but goes right after hitters and gets high marks for his makeup.”

Right-hander Jeff Brigham (23) was the Dodgers fourth round selection in the 2014 First year player draft out of the University of Washington. With the Ogden Raptors in 2014 he posted a 3.58 ERA with 33 strikeouts in 32 innings. Baseball America noted Brigham’s extreme ground ball tendencies, his late movement and that he has reached 97 mph. He missed the entire 2013 season because of Tommy John Surgery

At some point in the season I would expect 18-year old Jairo Pacheco to move up from the short season Rookie League Ogden Raptors to the Loons.

The Loons 2015 starting staff will provide a mixture of youth and some experience, as well as a mix of left-handers and right-handers and a top five pitching prospect. Perhaps early in the season pitching coach Glenn Dishman may limit the innings of Gonzalez and Guzman and have them piggy-backed with another pitcher after three or four innings. Relievers Trevor Oakes and Brock Stewart would be candidates to pitch multiple innings and also make spot starts.