- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,148,227
- Reaction score
- 59
You must be registered for see images attach
Oklahoma City's Ryan Ward (10) throws to first for an out during the minor league baseball between the Oklahoma City Comets and the Tacoma Rainers a the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, April, 16, 2025. | SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman was placed on the paternity list on Sunday, as he and his wife Chelsea are expecting their fourth child, their first daughter to join their three sons.
That opened the door for Ryan Ward, at age 28, to get called up to the major leagues for the first time. At 28 years, 55 days old, Ward if he gets into a game will be the oldest Dodgers draft pick to debut with the team. Geoff Zahn, a pitcher drafted in 1968 who debuted with Los Angeles at 27 years, 257 days in 1973, held the previous mark.
Paternity leave in Major League Baseball is a minimum of one day and a maximum of three days, so this window for Ward will likely be short.
Ward was originally slated to start Friday night’s game for Oklahoma City, but was a late scratch, with Nick Senzel filling in at first base. Ward picked right up where he left off last season in winning Pacific Coast League MVP, hitting .324/.432/.588 with a 165 wRC+ this season in Triple-A, with four home runs, six doubles, and 14 RBI in 18 games while splitting time between first base and left field.
Drafted by the Dodgers in the eighth round in 2019 out of Bryant, Ward methodically made his way through the minor leagues, one level per season — except for bypassing Class-A after the 2020 minor league season was canceled — to reach Oklahoma City in 2023.
Ward got progressively better in Triple-A, culminating in hitting 36 home runs while hitting .290/.380/.557 with a 132 wRC+ in 2025 to win league MVP honors. That followed an offseason that saw Ward thrive in international competition, hitting five home runs in nine games for Team USA in the Premier12 tournament in Tokyo in 2024.
Playing so long in Triple-A has Ward at or near the top of many Oklahoma City modern career records — from 1998 to present, at their current ballpark — including 94 home runs and 322 runs batted in. During his 2025 MVP campaign, Ward also set Oklahoma City record for hits (164), home runs, RBI, and runs scored (113).
Ward is an older version of Michael Busch, who also won PCL MVP but was a man without a path to playing time with the Dodgers, with Shohei Ohtani at designated hitter, Freddie Freeman at first base, and Max Muncy at third base. Freeman and Ohtani also blocked Ward’s easiest path to playing time in Los Angeles, and in 2025 when they needed outfielders the club opted for better defensive players in Esteury Ruiz and Justin Dean instead.
Minor league free agency beckoned for Ward this offseason, but the Dodgers tossed one more lifeline his way the day before free agency, adding him to the 40-man roster on November 6.
Continue reading...
