April 19: Ward’s promotion is now official. The Dodgers announced Freddie Freeman is heading to the paternity list to clear a spot for the rookie. Ward is starting at first base against the Rockies.
April 18: The Dodgers are calling first baseman/outfielder Ryan Ward up to the Major League roster, The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya reports. The corresponding 26-man move isn’t yet known, and Ward was already added to Los Angeles’ 40-man roster back in November.
Ward will be making his big league debut the first time he appears in a game, and his first trip to the Show comes at the relatively old age of 28. In a less-stacked organization, Ward surely would’ve been in the majors much earlier, as he has crushed Triple-A pitching to the tune of a .264/.347/.511 slash line and 94 home runs over 1867 plate appearances in Oklahoma City over the last four seasons.
The fact that Ward has delivered these numbers in the hitter-friendly environment of the Pacific Coast League provides something of an asterisk. Ward also has extreme splits, even in his PCL MVP season of 2025 — the left-handed hitter crushed righties (1.038 OPS in 463 PA) and struggled badly against southpaws (.686 OPS in 189 PA) last season. Defensively, MLB Pipeline’s scouting report notes that Ward has a “lack of range and a below-average arm relegating him to left field or first base.”
Pipeline ranks Ward as only the 19th-best prospect in the Los Angeles farm system, while Baseball America doesn’t include Ward at all within their list of the top 30 Dodgers prospects. This is due in part to the Dodgers’ absurdly deep minor league system, but it again reflects how Ward isn’t considered a premium prospect, particularly at his age.
That said, Ward has done well for himself since being selected as an eighth-round pick in the 2019 draft, and his long journey to the majors is now finally nearing a payoff. Rockies right-handers Ryan Feltner and Michael Lorenzen are scheduled to start the next two games against the Dodgers, so Ward will probably have his MLB debut in the books before the weekend is over.
Teoscar Hernandez fouled a ball off his foot in yesterday’s 7-1 win over the Rockies, so that could potentially be the reason for Ward’s call-up. Alex Call is the only full-time outfielder on the L.A. bench —Hyeseong Kim and Santiago Espinal have some outfield experience but are infielders by trade, and both Tommy Edman and Enrique Hernandez are on the injured list until closer to the end of May. The set nature of the Dodgers’ lineup means that Call has only played in five games this season while spelling Hernandez, Andy Pages, and Kyle Tucker, though optioning Call to the minors doesn’t seem likely since Call is the top backup center field candidate.
toughest lineup to crack
you got dalton rushing batting .600 and he barely starts once a week
good luck to ward. in any other organization, likely a callup years ago
Well looks like The Althetic’s credibility is suspect again, no Ward on 26 man roster.
With Teo looking banged up yesterday wonder if he is going to DL
IL^
Maybe he means that the Dodgers are gonna keep him on the down low
No I am just not politically correct.
It’s not being politically correct, no other sport stupidly calls injured players “disabled” — Including the MLB for nearly a decade now.
So yeah, only stupid losers still deliberately choose the obsolete offensive label instead of the one that actually makes sense.
Losing your mind over something as simple as one word doesn’t actually do much.
Being offended so easily isn’t the great and just thing you want it to be.
Just admit that you’re soft.
Oh, I’m sooooh offended.
Plenty of softies around here
Quite a few nasties, too. Just sayin’.
Or you don’t have any disabled friends and just don’t know better
Zerbs
“I am just not politically correct”
You’re half right. You’re not correct. It’s the the IL
And you’re definitely being political
TakingPineTar: “obsolete offensive label” meaning the word “disabled” is offensive? That is preposterous. It’s a simple word that means what it says. It could just as well be called the “injured list” but why should that matter?
You sound disabled.
Funny how the PCL numbers for Dodgers prospects are reduced to something between a footnote and a passing mention. Lack of range and a below average arm isn’t something that can be hidden in the vast outfield of Coors Field. I wonder if another team was interested in a quick preview of Ward before adding him as a throw-in to a potential trade package.
Is PCL MVP a throw in? I get it he’s older but Busch won it the year before he’s traded too. Part of Wards age is due to Busch being ahead of him position wise and Rushing blowing past him.
Trade for a solid prospect maybe? Win win in a mini Michael Busch situation
Mr. Polishuk: If having a BA of .264 merits the description “crushed AAA pitching”, what verb would you employ if his BA was .295?
Murdered for sure
I think the .858 OPS is a better reflection of the crushing as well as his propensity to hit the ball a mile.
Ehageel: you’ve found the stat you prefer. Why don’t you go for it and say he “kills” AAA pitching? Don’t let a .264 BA stop you.
Joel,
You apparently prefer BA over OPS, which certainly is your prerogative, though objective evidence over the entire history of baseball demonstrates OPS correlates better with run scoring than BA does.
gbs42: On further reflection, given the meaninglessness of a .264 batting average and his earth-shattering OPS of .858, Mr. Polishuk should have described this player as having “obliterated” AAA pitching, as “crushed” doesn’t do him justice. I understand there were several instances last season when the opposing pitcher asked to be removed before having to face him, such was their fear. Fun fact: guess the number of PCL hitters who batted higher than .264 in 2025? Only 90. Btw, there’s a great statistic that correlates rather well with run scoring: it’s called “runs scored”, but that stat is for rubes I guess.
Joel,
I made no comment regarding the quality of Ryan Ward’s performance in the PCL, though winning the league MVP award is an indication he did pretty well.
My point is that batting average is a subpar tool to evaluate a player’s performance compared to OPS, which captures a much greater portion of a hitter’s skill than BA.
Team run scoring certainly determines the victor in each game, but if a team wants to consistently score more runs than its opponent, employing players with high OPS totals will serve the team better than simply picking high BA players who may not get on base exceptionally well overall and/or may not hit for extra bases with any regularity.
Some people just prefer to remain dumb forever.
There, you just said bating average is meaningless.
“Magioned”
Learned something.
The house has been obliterated!
He’s been better 2025-26 but you do have to take inflated PCL stats with a grain of salt.
Many prospects don’t come close to hitting as well in MLB of course.
Glad he’s getting his chance and always special to see an MLB debut. I wonder if Freeman going on paternity leave is a potential.
Well, Coors is a glorified PCL stadium anyways. Ward oughta feel right at home….
He hit .290 last year and is hitting .324 this year. He has improved every year in AAA.
His OPS was .937 last year, and it’s 1.020 this year.
Yes, he has improved every year in AAA. All 4 of them. He may stay in AAA long enough to decline as well.
The Dodgers will always have the deepest farm because they don’t have to use prospects on the big league team nearly as often as everyone else. They just buy free agents to fill the holes. (Shohei, Freeman, Tucker, Yoshi) Heck, the Dodgers don’t even have to use very many prospects in trade. They just take on big contracts other teams don’t want to pay in exchange for lesser prospects. (Glasnow, Betts).
Oh well, I’m not saying anything that all the rest of you don’t already know. As a matter of fact, I am boring myself.
Pepiot wasn’t exactly a lesser prospect.
It is wonderful being a Rockies fan. It’s just fun. I’m not Charlie Sheen or Donald Trump, it doesn’t always have to be about winning.
All teams would prefer to use prospects over signing free agents for obvious financial reasons. Dodgers hit a bit of a dry spell and partly why they went free agents/trade routes. We’ll see how it shakes out next few years. Some trade decisions inevitable if elite prospects maintain performance.
They gambled on Lux and lost. Vargas and Outman didn’t work out. A lot of the elite prospect talent are still not even at AAA yet.
They’ve also traded for and traded away prospects. Building prospect capital. True that some blocked were traded away (Busch) or play less (Rushing).
The Dodgers have simply bought their way out of poor & overrated player development strategy- A media driven hyping of an exaggerated farm to plate system has partnered with cloaking the reality.
Exceptions can considered for a successfully homegrowning pitching prospects
Best player in baseball this season was developed by them. Weak attempt Franklin
and who do you consider to “the best player in baseball”?
Andy Pages. And I clearly said this season. Rushing is another homegrown player on fire.
FS
“The Dodgers have simply bought their way out of poor & overrated player development strategy- A media driven hyping of an exaggerated farm to plate system has partnered with cloaking the reality.”
Please present your DATA (not anecdotes or anything else) that shows that Dodger prospects are systematically overrated.
They called up a ton in the last few years because of injuries, but don’t let facts get in your way
No, the Dodgers have the deepest farm because they identify the right players, make savy trades to improve the system like Busch, Lux, May deals, are a top 5 drafting team in the leauge, and don’t overpay when they make big trades. The team has added plenty of stars over the years via trade so that’s a ridiculous narrative to try and diminish them. Ward is not much of a prospect anyway at his age and not rated high anywhere.
Other than Sirota, which players received for Michael Busch, Lux & May have “improved the system?
Which players received for Busch, Lux & May have potential to be All-Stars, Busch, or even everyday players in The Show.
Your correct Ward is road kill & a bookmark or something.
Is this a joke? Hope is a top 20 prospect. At the very minimum the Busch trade kicked the can down the road for someone who didn’t fit their timelime and there is Ferris too. May was a complete liability so they improved their major leaige team getting rid of him and added a 2024 top pick and another lottery ticket for free. The Lux comp pick was used on Davalan who has a crazy good hit tool and has performed in the minors.
Franklin
I appreciate it when fans are this uninformed. It allows their teams to make mediocre moves and bad trades without getting called out for it.
Makes it that much easier for smart teams to take advantage of their incompetence. And gives their fans, such as yourself apparently, a reason to be angry at winning teams while settling for less.
this black and white argument gets old.
Why can’t we see reality for what it is: at this point in time the Dodgers spend the most (payroll) which enables them to obtain great talent, AND they also have an elite farm system where they develop players who (at a high percentage) become MLB talent.
It’s not either or.
Anyway, good luck to Ward
Yeah, how many times have the Dodgers picked in the top 10 of the draft in the last decade? How about the top 20? Once. Gavin Lux, the 20th pick of the draft in 2016. And only 3 times in the top 30 of the draft in that span.
“In a less-stacked organization, Ward surely would’ve been in the majors much earlier, ”
Ward wasn’t protected in the Rule V draft last season. Nor was he selected. It could be that teams don’t really see him as an MLB player
FGDC projects him for an 89 wRC+
FG scouting has him at a 40 FV
How many years was he a possible rule 5 pick?
Strange that no one would take him if he was available.
He is a throw back to the 90s. Had he been a power hitting 1st baseman back then, he would have made it to the big leagues by age 25.
Perfect candidate to strike out for Teo today
The Teo hitting .286 with 4hr 12rbi and .848 ops?
Dude I love Teo. But after he goes on one of his hitting streaks he goes into his “nothing but K’s” for a couple weeks. That’s where we are now.
And he went 2-5 with an RBI in his first game.
Freeland is going down! Don’t see IL happening. From a Texas Rangers fan, YVW!
Congratulations to Ryan Ward, well deserved and long overdue.
Speculation among Dodger writers is that there is a paternity leave upcoming for Freddie. If so Rushing will get the LH reps and time at 1B before Ward, IMO. If Teo goes down then that’s more runway for Ward.
Freddie Freeman is going on paternity leave.
9 months after the ASB checks out.
But he was at the All Star Game, so maybe he ought to see if the baby looks like the pool boy.
The allstar game isn’t a week long
#freeryanward
Exactly. I hope he shows something so he’ll get an opportunity elsewhere.
That would be a win win for everyone involved
MLB.com had Freddie, Teo and Rojas in the starting lineup. The bench before any moves is Call, Smith ( Rushing is starting), Kim and Espinal. If Smith were the guy it would be a catcher so that leaves Call, Kim and Espinal.
The move is not for today
This makes sense knowing Freeman is going on paternity leave. Call up an older guy with nothing to prove in the minors and dont waste options of a younger prospect. If he performs, keep him for bench work or send him down and shop him.
Doesn’t make sense
Any player already on the 40 and in the minors has used an option
Wally Pip
2 for 5 today. Solid debut.