River Ryan landed on the injured list for the second time this season with a left hamstring issue, but the Los Angeles Dodgers are not concerned about his ability to play out the rest of the year.
Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said the right-hander will be able to continue baseball related activities while recovering, which should help maintain arm strength. Gomes further noted the organization’s optimistic outlook for Ryan’s recovery and season, according to Fabian Ardaya and Katie Woo of The Athletic.
“The good thing is it’s not anything overly serious,” Gomes said Friday afternoon ahead of the Dodgers’ game against the San Diego Padres. “(Ryan) will be able to keep throwing, just not off the mound. Obviously, we’ll continue to look at what are the things we can do to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
The 28-year-old missed about one month earlier this season due to a hamstring injury, which the Dodgers also said was not a serious issue at the time.
Ryan has made eight starts this season for the Triple-A Oklahoma City Comets, pitching to a 4.46 ERA with 43 strikeouts in 36.1 innings.
Ryan made his MLB debut in 2024, logging four starts before suffering a season-ending elbow injury. He then missed the entire 2025 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery.
He did not make the 2026 Opening Day roster despite an effective performance in Spring Training that had the Dodgers collectively bullish over the year ahead. The roster decision was partly due to a logjam in the starting rotation but also wanting to put Ryan in the best position to succeed.
Dodgers managing River Ryan’s workload
That notion has carried throughout the season thus far as the Dodgers have maintained patience with their top pitching prospect. Even as injuries mounted and starters at the big league level turned in shaky performances, the Dodgers elected to keep Ryan with Oklahoma City.
President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman explained that was due to wanting to build Ryan’s workload as a prelude to a potential promotion to the Majors. The latest hamstring injury has somewhat thrown a wrench into that plan, but preparing the right-hander for a potential role in October is still very much in play.
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