Getty

The Los Angeles Dodgers made a notable Opening Day roster decision Thursday, optioning right-hander River Ryan to the minor leagues and out of their starting rotation plans. The move offers the clearest signal yet of how the team plans to shape its rotation. Ryan will not make the Dodgers’ Opening Day roster, manager Dave Roberts decided on Wednesday. Instead he was optioned to Triple-A despite an outstanding spring training following his eye-opening MLB debut earlier.

The move effectively finalizes the Dodgers’ Opening Day rotation and removes Ryan from immediate consideration despite his strong spring showing.

The move further clarifies the team’s pitching plans as the regular season approaches. Despite an impressive spring following his return from Tommy John surgery, Ryan was optioned to the Triple-A Oklahoma City Comets as the Dodgers prioritize depth and long-term workload management, leaving the core rotation picture largely in place with only a few final decisions remaining.

The decision to keep Ryan off the Opening Day roster for the defending back-to-back World Series champions came as something of a surprise after Ryan put together a stellar spring training in four Cactus League outings. Over 9 2/3 innings, the 2021 San Diego Padres 11th-round draft pick allowed just five hits and a 1.86 ERA while striking out 12. He walked four and hit a batter.

The top pitching prospect in the Dodgers’ farm system had some expectation of cracking the starting rotation but will now serve as a depth piece for a staff that one analyst, Brian Murphy of MLB.com, suggested could be the best in the Dodgers’ storied, pitching-rich history.

Ryan Approaching Upper Age Limit For Prospects

Ryan is ranked No. 6 overall in the Dodgers system by MLB Pipeline, but at age 27, the 6-foot-2 right-hander may be running out of chances. After pitching four years at UNC Pembroke, Ryan possibly slowed his development after being drafted by the Padres by insisting on remaining a two-way player.

But after a trade to the Dodgers before the 2022 season, Ryan — a Charlotte, North Carolina, native — “developed a deep repertoire as he focused full-time on the mound,” according to the MLB Pipeline scouting report. “He logged a 1.33 ERA in his first four big league starts in mid-2024 but blew out his elbow in August, requiring Tommy John surgery that cost him the entire 2025 season.”

Ryan got a brief call-up to Dodger Stadium in July 2024, when manager Dave Roberts trusted him to start four games.

Ryan did not disappoint, posting an eye-opening 1.33 ERA in 20 1/3 innings. But in his fourth start, on Aug. 10 against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Ryan said he felt tightness in his forearm starting in the third inning. He left the game in the fifth and was soon diagnosed with an elbow injury that would ultimately require Tommy John surgery.

Now, Ryan is 27 years old, meaning that his time as a “prospect” is coming to an end and he will soon be viewed more as a depth arm than a long-term developmental piece.

Dodgers Rotation Already Crowded

As he is sent to the Dodgers minor league spring training facility and to Oklahoma City for Triple-A Opening Day against the Albuquerque Isotopes, the Miami Marlins’ Triple-A affiliate, Ryan can only wonder when his next opportunity on a big league mound will come.

Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto has already been named by Roberts to start on Opening Day, and the third-year import from Japan tops a loaded rotation that is likely to include Shohei Ohtani, resuming his role as a pitcher and two-way player full-time, followed by Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, and then a choice Roberts has yet to make between Roki Sasaki and Emmet Sheehan, another pitcher returning from Tommy John surgery.