The Los Angeles Dodgers have a plethora of riches, with all sorts of All-Stars in the rotation, bullpen and starting lineup. Some of the Dodgers' more obscure players are also making a strong statement at spring training. That includes pitcher River Ryan, who had an outstanding outing on Tuesday.
“Impressive outing from River Ryan today. After a leadoff walk, he retired six-straight batters over two scoreless innings. Had three strikeouts, including a couple with 92 mph sliders against José Ramírez and David Fry,” California Post reporter Jack Harris posted to X, formerly Twitter.
Video also went viral of Ryan showing off that effective slider against the Cleveland Guardians. The slider was one of several different pitches Ryan used on Tuesday.
River Ryan, Vicious 91mph Slider. 😤 pic.twitter.com/dwZgmCaoqi
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 3, 2026
Ryan is seen as a candidate to get a rotation spot for Los Angeles this upcoming Major League Baseball season. He would be part of a group that includes Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow.
River Ryan hopes to impress the Dodgers
Ryan was getting lots of love online for his outing Tuesday.
“River Ryan looked like River Ryan today! In appearance & outing! Walked the leadoff, which is NEVER a good thing, but then threw a really good change up, then went cutter, 4 Sea at 95.5, then another well-located change up,” the account Dodgers Daily posted on X.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts gave a glowing review of Ryan's performance after the game, highlighting the Ramirez strikeout.
“I thought he looked like a major league pitcher today and not just a guy with a lot of stuff,” Roberts told Harris. “So that was encouraging. For him to punch out Ramírez on a breaking ball, that's a real hitter. Hopefully that's a confidence builder for him too.”
The pitcher has started four games in his MLB career. Those all came in 2024 with the Dodgers. That season, he finished the year with one victory and a 1.33 ERA.
Ryan missed the entire 2025 season after recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Dodgers are excited to see how he impacts the team moving forward. He and fellow Dodgers pitcher Gavin Stone are returning from injuries.
“I'm excited for River. I'm excited for Gavin,” Roberts said at the MLB Winter Meetings, per MLB.com. “Because to see your teammates celebrate and go through what we went through and not be able to participate, those are things that we're all betting on for that extra hunger to kind of make their impact in 2026.”
The Dodgers head into 2026 coming off back-to-back World Series championships.
