One of the first moves the Los Angeles Dodgers made during the offseason was adding Ryan Ward to their 40-man roster in order to prevent him from leaving the organization as a Minor League free agent.
Ward is coming off a productive season with Triple-A Oklahoma City that saw him hit .290/.380/.557 with 31 doubles, six triples, 36 home runs and 122 RBI over 143 games. He set career highs in games played, doubles, home runs, RBI and with 83 walks.
Despite Ward’s offensive production and the Dodgers’ need for improvement in left field, he never received a promotion to the Major League roster. Opportunities instead went to the likes of Esteury Ruiz and Justin Dean.
Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said the team considered promoting Ward multiple times over the last two seasons, but the opportunity never came to fruition, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
Ward was “multiple times in the conversation” when the Dodgers were considering a callup, General Manager Brandon Gomes said.
Gomes said Ward never received a call-up because the Dodgers felt it would be more beneficial for him to get regular playing time with Triple-A Oklahoma City as opposed to sporadic opportunities at the Major League level:
“He was probably more a victim of circumstances of ‘Hey, do we have a runway for him to play?’ versus call him up and he doesn’t get to play. We have other guys who we think will end up getting more regular playing time,” Gomes said. “This is not helpful for Ryan, obviously, but thinking about the development and keeping things continuing to move forward because he was having so much success. Were there clear times when he was going to jump somebody and get a consistent amount of runway to play? We didn’t really see that path over the last couple years.”
Although he has played in 402 career games at Triple-A, Ward still doesn’t have a clear path to beginning the 2026 season with the Dodgers. He is currently behind Alex Call on the depth chart, who has the edge to make the Opening Day roster as the team’s fourth outfielder.
L.A. also has several top outfield prospects who could come knocking on the door at some point, so Ward could be facing another difficult situation.
Not all is bad for the 28-year-old as he is already on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster, so all it would take is one phone call for him to get his first Major League opportunity.
Ryan Ward on the trade block?
A report from the offseason suggested the Dodgers could trade Ward to clear a spot on their 40-man roster. While they currently have only 39 players on their roster, L.A. may still decide to trade Ward if they feel he will never get a true opportunity with the big league team.
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