Opening Day! Reno Aces Season and Roster Preview

It's Opening Day for Triple-A affiliates across the minor leagues in baseball. The Arizona Diamondbacks' affiliate Reno Aces, open up their schedule in Las Vegas against the Las Vegas Aviators, the Athletics' affiliate.

Last year, the Aces reached the Pacific Coast League Championship Series before losing to the Sugar Land Space Cowboys. Still, it was a terrific season that saw them return to the playoffs, achieve a player winning PCL MVP (Adrian Del Castillo), and saw many of its players break out and reach the big leagues.

New manager Jeff Gardner leads the Aces, who is now the eighth manager in team history. He replaces Blake Lalli, who had managed three of the last four seasons. This will be Gardner's first season managing, but he has been with the organization for 12 seasons. For the previous three years, he was Arizona's Quality Control Coordinator

Jeff Bajenaru and Doug Drabek return as pitching coaches as they have served in those roles for at the last three seasons. Shawn Roof returns for his second season as bench coach. There is a new hitting coach in Terrmel Sledge. He was the Sod Poodles' hitting coach the last two seasons. For more on the team's Minor League coaches, click here.

There are high expectations on this team with plenty of talent that has played in MLB before and a lot of burgeoning prospects that are seeking to reach Chase Field as soon as possible.

Reno Aces Roster

Pitchers

Kyle Amendt, RHP, Reliever

Kyle Backhus, LHP, Reliever

Brandon Bielak, RHP, Starting Pitcher

Jeff Brigham, RHP, Reliever

Billy Corcoran, RHP, Starting Pitcher

John Curtiss, RHP, Reliever

Yilber Diaz, RHP, Starting Pitcher*

Conor Grammes, RHP, Reliever

Tommy Henry, LHP, Starting Pitcher*

Drey Jameson, RHP, Reliever*

Scott McGough, RHP, Reliever

Cristian Mena, RHP, Starting Pitcher*

Juan Morillo, RHP, Reliever

Taylor Rashi, RHP, Reliever

Jake Rice, LHP, Reliever

Andrew Saalfrank, LHP, Reliever - Ineligible until June due to suspension

Thyago Vieira, RHP, Reliever - Out for Season due to Tommy John Surgery

Josh Winder, RHP, Reliever - Out for Season due to Tommy John Surgery

Catchers

Aramis Garcia, R/R

Drake Osborn, R/R

Infielders

Connor Kaiser, R/R

Grae Kessinger, R/R*

Jordan Lawlar, R/R*

Trey Mancini, R/R

Tim Tawa, R/R, can play outfield*

Jesus Valdez R/R

Outfielders

Jorge Barrosa, S/R*

Tristin English, R/R

Kevin Graham, R/R

A.J. Vukovich, R/R

*denotes that the player is on the Diamondbacks 40-man roster.

Adrian Del Castillo, catcher, and left-handed reliever Kyle Nelson are expected to play for Reno at some point. The status of those two players will be updated soon and so will this article.

Of course, the big names to watch on offense are Lawlar, Tawa, and Mancini, as they are all potential impact players for the big league club.

The names to watch on the pitching side would be Diaz, Amendt, Backhus, and Mena as four of those guys are critical depth pieces for the big league roster.

Good luck to the Reno Aces this season.